


Cerulean Allure

by Smozie02



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Sex, Character Death, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Major Character Injury, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Past Relationship(s), Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-04-22 12:38:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 58,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14308803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smozie02/pseuds/Smozie02
Summary: Lance has watched the village of Arus from afar his whole life. It is the city where the Guardian Candidates go to see if they can bond with one of the Quintessence of Voltron.When Lance is the reason his village cannot have their Guardian Festival, his punishment is to become a sacrifice to their Guardian God, Takashi Shirogane.Would he even want someone who only caused trouble wherever he went?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! So, I have a vague idea of where this story is going! I wanted to make a God/Goddess AU. This is a Shance fic, but has potential to change? There will be minor Punk and maybe Mallura? Let me know in the comments what you guys think, and any suggestions are appreciated! This will be a bit slow-burn for Shance, but I promise to make Shance moments extra fluffy!  
> Requests are encouraged as well if you want to see something happen or want any filler-type chapters!  
> Hope you enjoy it!

 

A wind blew softly through a sparsely forested area.  It agitated the leaves on the trees, making them shift and float gracefully on their branches. Insects were darting around, buzzing and chirping to each other, sounds light and melodic. A pathway cut through the woods, trail beaten down into the dirt from frequent use.   

A man walked quickly down this road, feet kicking up dust as he went. He knew he must be quick or his employer would be angry with him again. _Babysitter, more like,_ he thought dully, fists clenching in irritation. The man tried not to think about it too much, he didn't need to rile himself up before he even got to work. He always seemed to be running late these days. Perhaps his boss would have an off morning and not notice his tardiness just this once? Hope bloomed in his chest at the thought of avoiding another punishment, pushing his legs to move faster. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his caramel-colored hand. 

The road on which the man traversed stretched widely, with enough room for an entire carriage to fit comfortably between the trees. It weaved between walls of trees, twisting gently every so often. As his footsteps thudded softly, sound dulled by the dust, the man took a moment to glance at the treetops. The sun filtered through the canopy softly, causing the path to look serene. He always walked purposely in the center of the road, allowing the rays of sunlight that peaked through the leaves to kiss his smooth, tan skin.  

Today, however, the male was in too much of a rush to appreciate the scenes around him. His heart pounded in his chest, anxiousness clawing at his gut. Dread ran through his veins as he picked up his pace. _Faster, get to work faster,_ the thought repeatedly. 

When had the bar gotten so far from his hut? The man entertained the thought of the village moving the buildings further from his home on purpose. He shook his head at the ridiculous notion. His town, pull a prank? They would not waste their time on such frivolous entertainment. _Don't get distracted,_ he thought _. You do not have time to think right now!_ He mentally berated himself for losing focus for a moment. 

Ahead of the man, buildings started appearing on either side of the road. The windows on each building reflected his tan face as he passed, expression distorted in heavy concentration. He didn't spare a glance to his appearance in the glass. He knew that he looked disheveled and weary from lack of sleep, and he didn't want that truth shoved back at him right now.  

 _Just get there and pretend nothing is wrong,_ he thought. _Perhaps Mr. Iverson will not notice how late you are._  

His deep blue eyes focused on a structure in the middle of town. He picked up his speed at seeing how close his goal was now. The building was bigger than the shops around it, size proportionate to amount of people it could fit inside. It had a large wooden sign hanging above the door that read _The Five Lions_ _Tavern._   Normally, it was bustling with life, voices of its customers loud and jovial. But now, this early in the day, it was silent. The silence seemed to ring out around the man who was hurrying towards it. The man could hear his footsteps ring off of the other buildings as the road turned to stone. 

He reached the concrete building, not even bothering to stop at the front door.  Instead, he rounded the corner and headed to the back entrance. As quietly as he could, he opened the door and crept inside, listening for sounds of his employer. Hearing nothing, he quietly got to work, sweeping the dust that covered the floor. He kept his ears trained for any sound that would alert him of another person. 

He let his thoughts wander a little as he worked, keeping his movements fluid and his pace never wavering, actions clearly the result of years of practice. He thought back to the times when Iverson would yell at him for being late or accidentally dropping things and spilling cups and vases of various beverages. Some instances more...recent than others. The man winced as he recalled a particular time when he spilled expensive wine. He was trying to pour 30 glasses of the wine for some celebration (he remembers it might have been a high official's birthday). The wine was stored in a large carafe made of dark glass. He thought he could lift and pour it easily, since he carried heavy glass items all the time.  He thought wrong, though, as he realized too late that the glass had been damp from being on the counter near the sink. He almost passed out as he watched the glass shattered onto the floor, pieces flying up to cut at his arms and face. He had watched in disbelief as the dark red wine slowly puddled outwards, mimicking blood; a foreshadowing of his punishment. 

He had been whipped harshly for that blunder. He refused to carry anything glass for months, fear of making the same mistake written on his face. Iverson allowed it, for some unknown reason. Perhaps it was pity. The man was shaken from his thoughts as a loud bang echoed throughout the tavern. 

 _Shit,_ the man thought. _He knows..._  

A moment later, a large man kicked open the door that connected with the front of the bar, his face lit with anger. 

The smaller man swallowed, fear building up in his stomach. 

 _"LANCE!"_ The large man bellowed. _"_ YOU ARE LATE! _AGAIN!"_  

Lance cowered, still holding the broom in his hands, all motion ceased at the sight of his boss. He wanted to apologize, but kept silent, knowing that speaking would be taken as insolence. Lance had found that one out the hard way. Looking at Iverson's face, he knew his punishment would be harsh today.  He had been late more than once in the last few weeks, and he knew this was unacceptable. 

"Have you gotten lazy, boy?! Thought I wouldn't mind? Thought you could get away with it?" His face got redder with each passing moment. 

Lance stared at the ground, waiting for him to continue yelling at him. When he was greeted with silence, Lance slowly shook his head, afraid to look up. 

"Finish sweeping this room, then sweep and mop the entire tavern! After that, clean all the tables AND chairs, the windows, I want them spotless! And do not forget your regular chores as well! Have everything done by the time we open tonight! NO SLACKING!" Iverson was as red as a tomato, veins popping out of his neck. 

Lance quickly nodded in understanding and restarted his sweeping a bit more vigorously than before.  

Seemingly appeased, Iverson left Lance to his chores. 

Lance scrambled around the tavern, completing the extra tasks he was given. His thoughts drifted to his family as they often did.  

The McClain's were a family of blacksmiths. They made everything from cooking pots to weapons. Occasionally, they were even commissioned by visiting royals to create metal works of art that would stand in castles and royal courtyards. It wasn't often, but Lance loved to watch his family make them. 

Lance never seemed to get the hang of working with metal, much to his family's dismay. He tried, of course, when he was younger, always eager to help where he was needed. However, once he showed no sign of improving on his less-than-average skills, he was sent to work with the other tradesmen of the village. His family hoped he could find at least one trade that would provide a stable income for the family.  

Much to Lance's chagrin, he could not find anything to apprentice in, so he was stuck with doing random work around town for people who could afford him a meager pay. It happened that one day, the tavern owner's son moved away to a far village, having been offered a job in the military of an allied city. This meant that the tavern needed new help, and Lance used that to his full advantage, practically begging Iverson to hire him.  After a week, when no one else had volunteered, Iverson agreed, and Lance started working at _The_ _Fi_ _ve_ _Lions_ 6 days a week, from morning until serving hour (it took Iverson less than a month to realize that Lance should not be anywhere near customers and made sure he was gone before rush hour began every day). 

Lance sighed heavily as he emptied the dustpan for the last time. He was sad that he wasn’t able to help his family with their trade, but at the same time he is relieved to be able to contribute _something._ He supposed that this will just have to do, and he would have to make sure his family got the money they needed. 

 _Maybe I can marry into a rich family in another town, and then everyone could be taken care of,_ he thought as he started setting all the tables and chairs in a row for cleaning. If he married rich, then his family would no longer have to work for pay. They could do whatever they wanted, follow whatever dreams they could come up with. They would always be fed, clothed, and housed. It was a pipe dream, Lance knew, but he still held hope. 

Every time Lance thought about the other nearby villages, he wondered if he would be able to meet anyone who would put up with him enough to marry him. 

Lance spends his one day a week off by getting up early and hiking the trail to the top of the closest mountain. The hike is very long and going up and down the mountain takes a large portion of the day. But it is worth it to Lance. He packs a lunch and water for the journey, and every time he rests beside the tree closest to the edge of the mountain. 

The view is amazing. There are the forest treetops for miles and off in the distance, a regal mountain stands beside a village barely visible from Lance's perch. Arus; The land of the Guardians. The Guardians, or rather the Guardian Candidates, were special humans that come from Arus who are born with the potential to become Guardian Gods. The Guardian Gods were legendary warriors who find a village to protect and join with the other gods to help the lives of every creature flourish.  

To become a Guardian God, a Candidate must approach one of the five Quintessence Spheres of Voltron. If the quintessence sphere senses that the person is worthy of its power, it will reveal a familiar for the Guardian Candidate to bond with and then it will fuse itself with the candidate who will then gain its powers. The new Guardian God must then master their powers with their familiar and choose a village to protect. 

The Gods are to keep the world at peace. There was one God, however, who saw things much differently. 

Zarkon. He believed that his village, the Village of Galra, were the perfect humans, and wanted to use his powers to attack the other villages and Gods in order to bond with all of the Quintessence of Voltron and become the most powerful being alive. 

This of course did not go over well with the other Gods, and they banished Zarkon from the land of Gods, Altea. Zarkon was not heard from for many years after that, but many people thought that he had been able to alter his bonded Quintessence to become more powerful. 

Lance shivered at the thought. How could someone even _think_ to corrupt such a powerful force? It sounded dangerous and wrong. 

In recent years, rumors have spread of Zarkon's return. Word had spread that his village of Galra had invaded a nearby town and captured the people as their slaves. Lance questioned the validity of such rumors but was terrified of such a God coming to his village and forcing him to become a slave. 

Lance knew the next Candidate Ceremony was to be held soon. There was one Quintessence that had not bonded to anyone. The Quintessence of Water. 

Lance really longed to see the ceremony firsthand. There was never any time, however, for him to travel such a long way from home for a ceremony that he wasn’t a part of. He knew that no matter who was chosen as the Guardian God of Water, they would be key to bringing down Zarkon for good. 

The Gods, once bonded to their Quintessence familiars, can join together to create the most powerful magic ever known. That magic is the Spell of Voltron, the Defender of Magic. Once summoned, the magic would be able to defeat Zarkon and his corrupt ways. 

Lance shook his head to clear it. He really needed to focus on his chores and not get distracted by thoughts of the Guardian Candidates. 

Lance filled a bucket with water and soap and set to cleaning the tables and chairs. With all of them lined up in a row, he could clean them more quickly than if they were set up in groups. He does this a lot, coming up with more quick and efficient ways to work. He fails a lot, sometimes in big ways, but there are times when his ideas are great and work. He is very proud of himself for every successful outcome. 

Once cleaned and dried, Lance sets the tables and chairs back where they had been and sets to cleaning the bar down. He still has a few hours left before the bar opens for the night. He is certain he can finish the tasks if he works fast. 

Lance goes to the drain in the back room and empties the now dirty water. He fills it again to clean the filthy windows. Some windows are up high and Lance has to use a step stool to reach them, even being as tall as he is.  

He starts to clean the lower windows, making his way from one end of the bar to the other. After he refills the bucket with clean water and more soap, he arranges a chair beneath each tall window to use as a step stool. 

Lance puts a cloth on top of the chair so that it won't get dirty from his shoes and starts to clean the upper windows. He takes his time, making sure he covers each chair with the cloth before stepping on it so that he doesn’t create more work for himself. 

It is when he is on the last 2 windows when Iverson comes back. 

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, BOY?!" Iverson yells, startling Lance. 

Lance slips on the cloth and loses his balance, falling onto the table near the window he was cleaning. A loud _CRACK_ sounded throughout the bar as the table broke clean through the middle.  

Panicked, Lance got up quickly and moved backwards, stepping in the bucket of water in the process. The dirty water sloshed onto the floor as the bucket caught on Lance's foot. In shock, Lance stumbled with the bucket still latched on his foot, spilling more water over the floor. 

Lance yelped and tried to regain his balance but ended up slipping on the soapy water-covered floor. He twisted his body to grasp anything for support as he tumbled to the floor, finding a broom nearby. 

As his bottom hit the floor, a crashing sound resonated above him. Lance paled and slowly looked up at the broom handle that was stuck straight through the window. Glass had fallen around Lance as his eyes widened in terror. 

Iverson watched the scene play out, too surprised to react right away.  

Everything was deadly silent for a few moments, Lance to scared to move a muscle as his boss stared in disbelief. Slowly, Lance got up and started using the broom to clean the glass.  

Iverson just stared as Lance began to slowly clean the mess he had made. It was when Lance started moving the broken table to the back room to be thrown out that Iverson spoke next. 

"What the hell in the gods' names did you think you were doing?! Chairs are not for standing!! Look what you have done! How much do you think it'll cost to replace that window? Or the table? ANSWER ME, YOU TWAT!" 

Lance flinched under the booming voice, scared to move a muscle. "I-I thought....I was trying to.....I'm sorry....." His body was shaking slightly in fear and guilt. 

"YOU'RE SORRY! WELL DOESN'T THAT MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER?! POOR LITTLE LANCE BROKE A WINDOW AND TABLE, SPILLED DISGUSTING WATER OVER THE FLOOR, BUT IT'S FINE BECAUSE HE IS _SORRY_!!!" Lance started shaking harder as Iverson got louder with each word. "HOW ABOUT I GIVE YOU SOMETHING ELSE TO BE SORRY ABOUT?! YOU'RE FIRED, MAGGOT! GET THE QUIZNAK OUT OF MY TAVERN! _NOW!!!_ " 

Lance paled, his body shaking. He had been fired from the one stable job he had. _No........What am I going to do...?_  

 

_________________________________________________________________________ 

 

Lance was in a stupor, completely numb from shock. He had just lost his job. The main source of income for him. He had doomed his family because he was not good, or at least he thought so. 

He slowly made his way down the main road towards home, not looking at any of the passing faces, now bustling around town. He didn’t even seem to hear the murmur of whispers from passersby, commenting on him. 

"Really sad, don't you think?" 

"Poor boy never could get things quite right..." 

"Perhaps Iverson was too hard on him?" 

"Iverson has put up with enough from that child! Remember the wine incident?" 

"Ah, that's right." 

"How embarrassing for the rest of the McClains!" 

"SHHHH!!!! He will hear you!" 

But he didn't. He couldn’t. All Lance could do was let his feet slowly drag him home in shame and horror as his mind tried to catch up. 

 _How will I tell Momma? Papa?_ Lance thought glumly. _How will I be able to make my share now?_  

After all, Lance never thought of himself as anything special or worthwhile. Who would help him? Who would care? It wasn't as if his reputation in town was good.  

 _Pathetic._  

The word filled every part of Lance's mind in that moment. 

 _Pathetic, and sad. Worthless._  

 _Worthless._  

The words echoed through his brain on repeat. 

Everyone was pulling their weight except for him. His sisters had even covered for more than a few of his "accidents" in the past, before the town came to know him as the village screw-up. How could they act so calm while getting blamed for something he did? How could he even compete with them? How could he become _something_ his family could be proud of? 

Lance was overwhelmed by grief to the point where he had just stopped feeling. There was no way to hide what had happened to him, and he wouldn't ever dream of lying to his family anyway. He had to face them when he got home. He had to tell them. 

If it hurt their funds, he would tell them to let him take it upon himself. He would eat less food, saving it for them. He would work more jobs. He could even travel to other villages to see if there was work he could do. 

A horrible thought struck Lance. 

 _What if they throw me out?_   

After all, who would want the worlds' biggest loser in their house, even if they were a family member?  

He had heard of families from other villages doing it before, so really, what is stopping his family from doing the same? 

Maybe if he offered to leave, they would go easy on him? Lance shook his head slowly. No, he needed to take the judgement that he deserved. He didn’t deserve pity. 

Lance stopped on the path, looking at his home in sorrow. He didn’t even realize that he had traveled all the way home already. His body had been on autopilot. 

After what seemed to be hours, Lance finally pushed his feet forward and made his way inside the house. He went straight towards the kitchen, where he knew his whole family would be gathered for lunch. 

As he approached the kitchen, he heard the bustling of his family enjoying their meal. He entered the room, looking at the floor, not meeting their eyes. He went unnoticed for a few moments, remaining silent in anticipation. Suddenly, he heard one of his sisters say his name.  

The room went quiet as attention shifted to Lance and he gained the stares of every person in the room. Guilt sat heavy in his stomach as he shifted uncomfortably. 

"Uh...I....," Lance swallowed thickly, lump sitting in his throat. _Just say it! Get it over with!_  

Lance grit his teeth. "Iverson.....I goofed up." Tears were fighting to escape his eyes. "Iverson fired me. I.....it...it was a mistake. I'm....so sorry." The last part came out as a whisper, Lance unable to contain his emotions. He was shaking where he stood, waiting for the yelling he was sure would come. After all, isn't that what he deserves? 

Everyone was silent, digesting this information. Finally, his mother spoke up. "It is alright, sweetie. We will figure this out together."  

Lance chanced a glance at his family. He received several small nods and hums of affirmation.  

Lance nodded. "I-I'm gonna go to my room for a bit...." He said as he turned to leave the room. No one stopped him as he climbed the stairs to his room. 

He entered his room and shut the door, looking around his room at nothing in particular. It felt unreal. How could he have let this happen? 

He walked over to his bed and sat on the edge, facing away from the door. He looked out his window and stared at the shadows cast by the trees. The tears that had threatened to break free earlier now gone, replaced by a numbness Lance couldn't explain. He wanted to cry, to let his emotions run free. Perhaps he would feel better after exhausting himself? Somehow, he doubted this. 

Now, all Lance could do was stare out the window and watch as the shadows moved softly along the ground outside.  

He couldn't think, so he just watched as the day passed by, watching the trees sway in the wind. He saw the light fade into orange and observed as the forest took on a dark blue hue. 

Lance came out of his trance, realizing that he had moved to sit on the window sill at some point. With the night getting darker, Lance knew he should try to sleep. Maybe he could find enough work to make up for his failure. 

He stood up and made his way to his dresser, grabbing his pajamas and dressing for the night. 

As he laid down on his bed, his mind wandered back to the tavern and how everything had gone so wrong so quickly. He was sure he wasn't going to sleep well, if at all, and instead busied himself with staring at the objects in his room. 

After a while, he decided to replay his favorite lullaby in his head over and over. Still not sleepy, Lance rolled on his side to face the window, once again staring out into the expanse of forest. 

He was unsure how long he laid like that, but he finally saw the first signs of morning light through the clear glass of his bedroom window.  

Lance sighed. _Better get up and start the day early. Maybe_ _Nyma_ _and_ _Rolo_ _will need help making deliveries...._  

He got up and changed into some shirt and trousers, making his way downstairs to the kitchen. As he presumed, none of his family was awake yet, so Lance just made a quick breakfast before heading into town. 

As he gets into town, a few people are up and about, so Lance knew the villagers were starting to wake and prepare for the day. 

 _Good,_  Lance thought, _I might be able to get work._ He knew that most hard-working villagers needed a break from time to time, and Lance wanted nothing more than to expose that and use it to his advantage today. 

He made good time going from shop to shop asking for work. His intuition had rewarded him and several villagers decided they wanted to pay him so they could take it easy that day.  

Lance had an inkling that some people only gave him the work out of pity, seeing sympathy in their eyes. But he brushed that thought aside, not caring why he got the job, just that he received his pay. 

After an hour of questing for work, Lance made his way to his first job of the day, delivering milk to the citizens. 

He finishes this job pretty quickly, only dropping one bottle of milk. He was paid for his work, and he moved on to the next task. 

His day went about as well as could be expected for him, some slip-ups with him receiving punishment.  

He was cleaning the rooms of one patron and spilled a bit of dirty water on the floor as he went to empty it. The man paying him saw this, and he received a black eye for making the floor dirty. He knew he wouldn’t get paid for the job, but he went to clean the floor up anyway. 

As he was preparing to leave, the wife of the man came to him and gave him a few coins and apologized for her husband's actions. She hurried to see him on his way. At least he got payment. 

Lance had a few more jobs cleaning houses and store fronts that day. On his last job, the family had 3 teen children that loved to create problems for him. They insult him as he cleans, dirty areas that are done so he needs to clean them again, and as he scrubs the floors, they kick at him and laugh, calling him many horrible names. They don't kick his face, at least, and for that he is grateful.  

He returns home and presents his parents with his meager pay for the day. They smile and offer him dinner of bread and stew. He eats without speaking and returns to his room to sleep. 

This time, Lance is able to sleep a few hours before waking up to a dry throat. He sighed and rolled out of bed. He quietly made his way to the kitchen, not wanting to disturb anyone sleeping. He stopped when he heard quiet voices coming from the kitchen. Who was up this late? 

"What is wrong with the boy?" That was his father. "Is he just lazy? Should I have pushed him harder when he was young? I don't understand what we can do to make this work. He can't even _weld_  without nearly burning his hand off!" 

Lance's stomach dropped. _Me,_ he thought drearily, _he is talking about me._  

"We all knew for a while that he might not....amount to much. Perhaps it is time to think of a more suitable future for him?" His mother was speaking calmly. 

"Suitable? He isn't able to _do_  anything of importance! What can you do with a boy like that?" His father was getting angrier. Lance hurt at hearing his father's words, though he knew they held truth. 

"Marriage. He is a very attractive young man. Perhaps we can visit another village and arrange something?" His mother was trying to diffuse the situation. Lance didn't think anyone would want to marry him, though. 

Not wanting to hear any more, Lance quietly made his way back to his room, water forgotten. 

Even his parents though he was useless.  

Lance sank down onto his bed, heart feeling like it had been pierced with a knife. He wasn't talented and he messed up so much. He had tried so hard to get things right, but he screwed up more often than not. 

His parents wanted to marry him off to some other village. Force him onto some poor unsuspecting soul.  

Tears welled up in his eyes. What was he going to do? The harder he tried, the more he failed. Not trying wasn't an option, but he didn't want to make a mess of things anymore. 

Unable to control it, Lance let his tears roll silently down his cheeks, the pain in his chest increasing with each breath he took. 

He hugged his pillow closely, quiet sobs shaking through his body. 

Lance is unsure at what point he had fallen asleep, but when he next opened his eyes, he could see the soft light of dawn through his window. He blinks slowly as he recalled his parents' conversation the previous night. 

 _Marriage._  Lance thought. He suddenly got angry, remembering his father had accused him of being lazy. He was trying SO HARD! A burst of energy surged through his body, and Lance jumped out of bed and got dressed quickly.  He was not giving up just yet. He can do this! He can be useful! 

He tip-toed down to the kitchen and grabbed some bread and milk and then jogged along the path towards town. 

Lance knew that today was special. It was the preparation of the festival thrown in appreciation of their Guardian God. There was sure to be a lot of excess tasks that no one will have time to do. This was his chance. He could prove that while not talented in any one craft, he can still be of use to the town. 

Determined, he marched himself confidently up to the villagers that were already beginning preparations. 

Surprisingly, most citizens are relieved to have help, even if it _is_ from Lance. So he accepts this and does each duty as perfectly as possible. He ends up only messing one chore up, and even then, he fixes it afterwards. 

Proud of his work that day, and happy about the coins jingling in his pockets, Lance found himself at his last task of the day. He was to take a bunch of empty wine barrels and move them next to one of the wooden flame towers to be filled before moving to the area where the wine would be presented to the god. The towers would be lit for the festival in representation of the hope the god lights within each person. 

It was a fairly simple job, and Lance was able to carry the heavy barrels relatively quickly to the designated spot.  

He was carrying the last barrel when his foot hit a rock he hadn't seen and he stumbled forwards. Fear radiated throughout his body and Lance quickly spun around to avoid breaking the barrel when his back came into contact with a hard surface. Realizing he hadn't fallen to the ground, Lance looked behind him to see what he had hit. 

The tower.  

Slowly, carefully, Lance looked up to the tower, slightly swaying upon the impact he had made. 

 _Don't fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall._ Lance's mind raced with the phrase, the tall structure moving more each second. 

Lance watched as the tower swayed dangerously. His blood ran cold, eyes widening in fear. The tower almost appeared to have decided to stay upright, when Lance saw the first beam fall. 

"Oh no...." He breathed, just as the structure started crumbling to the ground. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everybody for reading!  
> Please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed the chapter (or both).  
> This will be an ongoing fic, so subscribe if you want to see more!
> 
> My first few updates might take a while to post, as I start to get more in the swing of writing.
> 
> Please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos ensues and the town leaders must decide on a fitting punishment for Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Writing the first chapter was very hard for me. I knew where I wanted to go, but I didn’t want to spend time getting there. My word count goal for last chapter was not met, but I will try to keep the word count consistent throughout the chapters. Please comment on anything you liked or didn't like, and of course, suggestions or requests are allowed. Note that any requests might not come into play if they do not work inside the story, so please do not bash me for not accepting your request. I hope that this chapter flows well!  
> Enjoy!

Lance's mouth had gone dry as he saw the wooden structure fall apart, piece by piece.  _This can't be happening. I was fine, the whole day I was FINE..._   

A beam fell and struck some of the barrels that Lance had moved beside the tower, smashing them to pieces. Other barrels just tipped over and rolled into the baskets of decorations not yet set up, spewing them in every direction. Most of the decorations were tarnished as they hit the dirt or had other barrels roll over them.  

 The four main beams of the tower leaned sideways and fell on the food and game stalls nearby. A chain reaction was set in motion, as each of the stalls crumbled into one another along the festival space. Food and drink spilled everywhere, game equipment torn apart. It would have been a comedic sight if it wasn't the most important festival of the year being utterly demolished in every way.  

 One by one, the preparations for the festival fell to ruin, leaving nothing standing.  

The people had been sent screaming and running to safety as the chaos ensued, staring in horror at the devastation.  

Lance couldn't move, staring blankly at his whole future falling apart. He was lucky that nothing fell on him. Perhaps he would briefly think himself unlucky once he came out of his shocked state.  

As the dust began to settle, the people slowly looked around at the cause of such destruction. Eventually, all eyes fell on Lance's face, which had been drained of all color, though not a soul could speak a word.   

Lance soon broke out of his daze, and started picking up what he could, hands shaking and tears gathering in his eyes. He knew his actions were futile, but he could not stop himself from trying to fix it. It came as a reflex to him, after so many years of fixing every mistake he had made. His mind instinctively pushed him to save  _some_  part of the preparations.   

No one moved to help him, instead just watching as he pathetically tried to right his mistake. Some on looking eyes held pity, most did not. The town knew by now to expect failure from Lance, though none could ever say they would have expected a fiasco of this magnitude.  

There was a small shifting of movement as the town officials came to investigate the commotion, and upon seeing Lance flail about in his sorry attempts at fixing the mess, shook their heads in defeat. He had ruined the festival and doomed the entire village to slipping out of favor with their Guardian God.  

One of the officials motioned for the others to follow him to the meeting hall, to discuss this new predicament. As they left, a word was uttered, though it was unclear who had said it.  

_"Tragedy."_   

 It is unclear whether the person meant the ruined festival, or Lance. Most citizens would later agree it didn't matter, since it applied to both.  

  

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

  

The wise leaders of the town gathered in the meeting hall, seating themselves around the large table. For a while, everything was quiet, as each member chewed on the problem at hand.  

How would they be able to salvage this mess? The festival was tomorrow, as it always had been. The god Shirogane would come and stand on the platform near the cliff, and the village would present him with their gifts. He would offer them their blessing and promise of protection for another year.   

Except this year the people had no gifts. They had nothing to present the god that protected them. Generations of work from their ancestors had been ruined so easily by one boy.  

The first generation of people that had come to this plot of land had found a sea over a cliff. It is said that one of the travelers met the god on that cliff and made a pact with the god to present gifts in return for protection from fierce harm. The god agreed, and that cliff had been the spot for their ceremony ever since.  

Being a sacred place, the first travelers made their village a few miles away out of respect for the god. Every year, the cliff and surrounding area was decorated for the festival, and a mound of gifts from fine material to the best wine was piled onto a platform that had been cut from imported marble.  

Every single resident, Lance included, looked forward to the night of the festival. This time, however, most were beginning to dread it.  

"What is to be done with that... that  _menace!?"_ One official queried.  

"We must take strong action! He cannot be allowed to cause us these troubles!" Another piped up.  

"Let's cast him out of the village. Exile him. Make sure he cannot harm us any longer!"   

"NO! Physical punishment is best! Make an example of him."  

"You plan to make it  _worse_  by harming the boy? Add to his list of incompetence?"  

"I say we let Guardian God Shirogane decide the whelp's punishment!"  

"ENOUGH!" Bellowed the oldest town leader, calling for immediate silence.  

"Our festival to our Guardian God is in ruins. All of our hard efforts wasted. This boy must pay for these blights against our great Takashi Shirogane. There is only one viable solution to ensure we keep within our god's good graces."  

The leaders all looked amongst themselves. As they began to discuss the new preparations, each leader nodded their assent.  

  

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

 

The crowd of people was still silent and unmoving. A few citizens needed to be taken home by their friends or family members as they had burst into tears at the sight of it all.  

Lance had not stopped cleaning up what he could, his body had shut down to complete autopilot, and though his tears had stopped, his body kept shaking with each movement.  

In the time the officials left to discuss the plans for the festival, Lance had managed to right all the still whole barrels and fix one of the stalls that hadn't been horribly damaged beyond repair. Not once did he ask for help. This was his fault, his mess to clean up. Everyone knew this fact.  

It was then that the officials reappeared to make their announcement. The Eldest stood in the center of the festival decay, and the town members slowly moved closer to hear what would be said.  

The shifting of clothes and sound of footsteps broke Lance out of his panic, and he turned around. Realizing what was going on, he inched closer to the man, still afraid of what was to come, though knowing he deserved whatever was determined.  

Once he saw that the crowd had gathered, the eldest addressed them.  

"My dear people, an immense loss has been thrust upon us. Our festival cannot commence as tradition has held. This," he waved at the destruction, " _misdeed_ , has been given by one of our own."   

All eyes shifted to Lance. Lance looked at the ground in despair.  

"The question we are faced with is 'How are we to rise from this? How can we stay in favor of the great Guardian God who has protected us generation after generation?'" The crowd shifted slightly but uttered no words.  

"The answer is simple." He turned to face Lance. "We have decided that Lance McClain must pay for his terrible act by becoming himself a  _human offering_ to the great Takashi Shirogane!" Gasps were heard throughout the crowd, murmuring started to grow before dying as the man turned back to face them.  

"Tonight, we will clear away what we can from the platform's immediate area! Tomorrow, at twilight, we will hold the very first sacrificial ceremony!" The eldest clapped his hands and the crowd dispersed into action, everyone setting about the given task.  

Everyone, save for Lance, who was still with this new shock settling upon him. The official calmly walked over to him, shaking him on the shoulder lightly.  

"Listen to me, boy. Look at me, this is of the utmost importance." Lance lifted his eyes to meet the man's. "The village leaders will come get you tomorrow morning, to prepare you for the ceremony. Do not think to run away or get out of this in any way. If you do, a more severe punishment will be given to you. Do exactly as you are told; nothing more, nothing less."  

Lance could hardly breathe. When had the air gotten so thick? He nodded as best as he could, and some of the village leaders smiled in what Lance thought was supposed to be comfort, though he felt none.  

"Very well. Go, now, back to your home and get a good night's sleep." And with that instruction, Lance turned and slowly walked away from his worst nightmare. He knew that when he came back, he would be entering into a new, more horrifying one. He felt dumbstruck, still numb in the shock of it all, and continued to attempt to further clean his mess. He vaguely heard the village leaders tell him to “Go home and get some rest.” He doesn’t remember if he nodded. 

Despite holding a ceremony for the god every year, no villager had actually conversed with the god in the last two decades. He always accepted the gifts, given his blessing, and left for the people to enjoy the rest of the festival themselves. This was how the rumor started about how the god was displeased with the village.  

Every year they tried to make their gifts more extravagant that the last, hoping that the god would open up again and grace them with his presence for the duration of the festival. Every year, they were disappointed.  

It was no stretch of imagination then, that Lance dreaded the day to come. What god would be pleased with him? What god would offer his town favor once he saw Lance? He felt more hopeless with each step he took.  

_Perhaps,_  Lance thought,  _if the great God would allow me to speak, I can tell him it's my fault, and to still bless the village. Maybe he will take pity and kill me instead of harming them..._    

The thin boy still cared deeply for his home, and the people in it. They didn’t really hate  _him_ (ok, maybe some did, but most of them were innocent and he had to ensure his family was protected), so he had reasoned with himself that they just disliked his lack of usefulness. He blamed himself for not being... _enough_.  

Suddenly aware that he had arrived home as he stepped through the door, Lance refuses to meet the eyes of his family members and instead heads straight to his room. He is certain by now that they must have heard what had happened, and he could not bring himself to speak anything to anyone. He didn’t feel worthy to be in this family, and isn’t it true that he no longer was a part of it? Would he not meet his demise in less than one whole day, after all?  

Lance barely managed to kick off his shoes before burying himself under his covers, still filthy from the day’s work. He no longer cared about how he looked; the counsel would fix him tomorrow anyway. He realized belatedly that his whole body ached with fresh cuts. He must have gotten them earlier in his haste to fix his colossal mistake, but he made no move to treat them. Perhaps their god would see them and give Lance the chance to speak. But for now, all he wanted was to sleep and escape his present reality if only for a few hours.  

With almost no hope left, Lance slipped into an uneasy slumber.  

  

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

  

The morning was quiet, and still, as if all life had suddenly stopped. It was dark outside, sun having not risen yet.  

Lance's eyes fluttered open, the silence of the morning becoming quite deafening for him. He sat up and looked out the window into the blackness. It must be really early still, for not even a sliver of light graced the earth.  

Knowing that he could not possibly sleep any longer, Lance rose from his bed and headed down to the kitchen to await the leaders.  

As he sat in a chair, Lance realized how surreal the past two days had been. Losing his most needed job, destroying the festival, it felt so unreal to him. His heart sunk as he thought about what this day held.  

He only hoped that his pleading with the god could save his village. It was the one thought that would get him through this day.  

Lance suddenly shivered, becoming aware of how cold the morning was. Not really wanting to get up from the chair, he tucked his legs up to his chest and hugged his arms around them. He didn't care if he looked like a complete child since it made him feel warmer.  

As the time passed, his parents had come to sit around the kitchen table. Neither parent spoke to Lance, both unaware of what to say to their child.  

They remained in silence until a knock at the door was heard. Lance rose from his seat, not looking at his parents, and gave a vague nod as he trudged to the door. He knew who was at the door.  

Lance opened the door and left, not uttering a word to his parents. His parents weren’t able to offer him much comfort, his mom just kissed the top of his head and his dad gave him a hug before he left.   

Following the village leaders, Lance's gaze fell to the ground, not really feeling like talking or acknowledging the others around him.  

He was led to the meeting hall, which had been set up to prepare him for the ceremony. The table had been laden with food, makeup, jewelry, and every kind of accessory imaginable. Lance even recognized a section dedicated to perfumes and body lotions.   

The tan boy sighed. It was going to be a long day, he was certain.  

The leaders left as a few women Lance barely recognized entered the hall. They didn't speak to him, and Lance felt that he preferred it that way. The women began forcefully stripping him of his clothes until he was stark naked, and they led him to a wash tub that had been brought in to get him clean.  

He climbed into the tub and sat as they began to scrub the grime off of him. Lance just let them, knowing that fighting was useless at that point. He was enough of a screw-up, they probably assumed he couldn't even clean himself properly.  

The women took great effort to thoroughly clean his hair, and Lance thought that maybe a large amount of dirt had gotten into it the day before. He wouldn’t doubt it, he  _did_  feel pretty filthy.  

Water was poured onto his head to rinse him off, and Lance stood to step out of the tub, now completely dirt-free. He was toweled off by two of the women, the others starting to prepare items that were on the table.  

A robe was wrapped around him and he was pushed to the food side of the table and manhandled to sit in a chair. He figured he was supposed to eat and when he was not stopped, proceeded to eat his fill. He took his time, not wanting to make himself sick and partially avoiding more of the preparations.  

Once he had finished, his seat was turned around while he sat upon it and pushed away from the table. For a moment, Lance marveled at the strength of these women who far surpassed his own strength. He was only momentarily distracted, though, for one of the females grabbed his foot and started attacking the nails, cleaning, clipping, filing.  

It tickled and Lance had to dig his hands into the chair to keep from making noise. After some time, the lady moved to the other foot, giving it the same treatment. Now prepared for the feeling, it was much easier for Lance to keep from giggling.  

One of the other females grabbed his right hand once his feet were done and began to fix and clean his fingernails. At the same time, a different lady grabbed his face and started plucking his eyebrows into neat lines. The sudden hands on his face had made Lance gasp softly, but he soon relaxed against the treatment. No one apologized for the roughness. He didn't expect them to.  

After his nails and eyebrows were fixed, the ladies brought lance to a new chair and sat him down. They opened his robe and proceeded to shave his legs and underarms, Lance just looking past them at nothing while they worked. Once his legs and underarms were smooth, the women rubbed lotion into his skin.   

Lance's skin seemed to glow a bit with the lotion, and he took time to appreciate the look of it. He ran his hands along his thighs briefly and was pleased at the softness beneath his touch. He smiled slightly, letting himself indulge in something nice despite the circumstances.  

His robe was thrust back on him as he was moved to an area scattered with makeup.  

_Fun,_ he thought sarcastically. Lance was never one for fancy products, hell, he even barely ever put lotion on, really only using it if his skin was cracked and dry. He would have to remember not to touch his face for the whole day so he didn’t ruin the hard work.  

Eyeshadow, blush, and mascara were all caked onto his face as he sat as still as he could manage. When the women were finished with his face, he looked around for a mirror. Finding none, he gave a small sigh and hoped that he at least  _looked_  okay.  

The ladies nudged him into a standing position and yanked off his robe. They began lathering perfume over his body, Lance coughing at the violent stench. As he was beginning to feel dizzy from the scents, he was permitted to sit down again. He noticed a towel had been slipped around his waist to give him some modesty, though at this point Lance wondered why they would even bother.  

The women surrounded him on all sides, which was a bit different from what they had been doing since then. Each one grabbed a foot or hand and they started painting and glossing his nails.   

_Right,_ he thought,  _"_ _Gotta_ _have the whole_ _gettup_ _."_   

He relaxed as they worked, noting that they glued false nails to his fingers to make them appear longer.   

Once they were done, one of the ladies attacked his hair with a brush and some sort of spray. Attempting to tame it, Lance guessed. After a few minutes, however, the woman stepped back and nodded to herself, clearly pleased with her work.  

It was an hour past noon, and Lance was allowed to munch on some fruit. The women left, most likely to get food themselves, so Lance relaxed into his chair and ate slowly, relishing the taste of the fruit he was given.  

It wasn't anything special, just a few varieties of local citrus. Lance appreciated it, though. It wasn't often that he could indulge in more than one variety as his family was not exactly well-off.   

Lance let he mind wander as he ate, wondering what the ritual would be like. Truthfully, he has only been to one or two, as he usually ended up stuck at the bar cleaning up after the swarm of pre-festival celebratory drinkers passed through. He was too young the times that he had gone and he barely remembered anything about the festival proceedings.  

Part of him wished it would be a quick ceremony. The other part of him wanted it to last forever, to avoid the doom he had convinced himself would come. Though he knew it was selfish, and he deserved the justice that would be thrust upon him, he couldn’t help but lose himself to the idea of avoiding immense pain or possible death.  

He sighed, putting the fruit down and moving to eat the bread and various cheeses on that were set on a wooden platter near the fruit.  

Lance drummed his fingers on the table idly to a random song that he remembered. The clacking of his new nails entertained him for a while, a sound he wasn't used to hearing.   

After what seemed to be about an hour, the women came back to get him dressed.   

Lance's mouth hung open slightly when the outfit, or rather lack of one, was set out in front of him.  

Paying no attention to his reaction, the ladies helped him into the small black briefs. They then helped drape the skirt onto his hips. Really, it was nothing more than two sheer violet pieces of silk held up by a silver chain, showing his legs off from ankles to hip bones. Lance blushed at how exposed his lower half would be, though in hindsight he should have expected as much after the women took great care to shave his legs.  

He was delicately put into a matching sheer violet top that ended a few inches above his navel, the women not wanting to ruin the hair and makeup. The top had black accents around the bottom edge and around the armholes. The top was pulled into a choker at the top, hooking at the back of his neck.  

Lance's upper arms were adorned with multiple silver bands each. He was given "sleeves" that were simply a silver band that sat above his elbow with a strip of the sheer silk attached. The strips of silk came to his knees and flowed softly when he moved.  

The women looped several silver chains embedded with cut crystals onto each hip, each chain hanging at a different length by his thighs.  

Delicate black sandals were slipped onto each foot, the small band slipping between his toes. There was a band that latched around his ankle as well, no doubt put there to keep Lance from losing the shoes if he tripped.  

After adding a few bracelets and necklaces of the same silver chains, the ladies glued some flat cut crystals to his ear lobes since he didn’t have pierced ears and couldn’t wear earring because of it.  

More perfume was rubbed into Lance's exposed skin and to his dismay, his shoulders, thighs and face were dusted with a glittery powder, making his skin sparkle in the light.  

Now more than ever Lance wanted a mirror to see how ridiculous he was sure he now looked. He felt exposed and sticky with makeup and perfume, and he wanted nothing more than to jump into the nearest river to wash it all off.  

Once again, the women left. Instead of returning, they were replaced by an elder leader. He talked Lance through the events of the ceremony, dictating where Lance would stand, what he would do, when to walk and where to move to.  

After the man had repeated the list five or six times, Lance tuned him out, instinctively nodding at what he hoped was appropriate intervals. He never once asked Lance to repeat back the ceremony, taking his leave after a few more reading of it.   

It was starting to get late, and the ceremony would soon begin. One of the women that had previously dolled him up came back. She brushed his teeth for him, taking care to not touch the makeup, and then applied a nude color to his lips. He was ready.  

Lance took a deep breath as he was ushered from the building to the waiting area for the ceremony.  

He looked at his surroundings, noting that he was placed beside the stone steps that led up to the cliff. Lance knew from the many stories he had been told that the podium carved for their god sat at the top, surrounded on one side by the sea below.  

He saw the villagers start to gather around the bottom of the stone steps, pointing to him and talking amongst themselves. Lance was grateful he was far enough away from everyone to avoid hearing the sharp words they were sharing about him.  

To his right, there were tall torches lining the sides of the stone steps. Lance saw that these seemed hastily put together, but then decorations covered the base of the torches to hide the less than perfect work. He supposed he was the one to blame, being as he destroyed all of the original festival décor.  

As Lance looked around, he saw that there was no gift for the god waiting to be taken onto the podium. He realized, of course, that this made sense since he himself was supposed to be the new "gift". Still, he would have thought the town would scramble up something more for the event.   

As the crowd started to grow quiet, his attention shifted to the break in the crowd. Lance spotted a man holding a flaming torch, watching as the man walked elegantly to the stone steps and lit the torches on each side. The man turned away from the crowd and bowed at the waist, showing his honor for their god before taking his place in the crowd.  

Next, the village leaders walked single file to the base of the steps and parted into two even rows. Lance would have to walk past their critical faces when the eldest called for him to climb the steps.   

Lance shivered just thinking about it.  

The eldest made his way to the middle of the other leaders and turned to face the crowd.  

"The Ceremony of Sacrifice will now commence!" He said, loud enough for all to hear.  

He turned to face the steps before speaking again. "Oh, great Takashi Shirogane, Guardian of our humble village! We offer you thanks for your infinite protection! Our words can never measure the level of our gratitude for such a protector as you! Today, we have a special gift for you! We present to you one of our own, who has  _volunteered_ to travel to the land of gods to personally serve Your Greatness for all eternity! Accept this as a continuation of our strong pact, and we ask that your protection be over us for another year!"  

That was Lance's cue. He held up the front of his "skirt" and slowly, carefully, ascended the steps. When he reached the top, he continued to walk up to the large stone podium until he was in the direct center of it. Lance admired the lightning bolt mark that had be cut into the stone from one end of the podium to the other. It was a beautiful splash of deep purple amongst the ordinary black and white of the marble. He briefly wondered if it had been dyed.  

Suddenly the wind picked up as Lance stood on top of the cliff. The torches were doused by the wind and the sea started to swell, waves crashing into the rocks below.  

The sky darkened, grey and black clouds rolling overhead, thunder cracked loudly.  

Lance's heart quickened, his eyes widened in fear. He barely remembered to stumble into the middle of the platform built for the god, so he could be carried to the gates of Altea. 

He started to panic mildly as he saw lights flash in the sky. This was it; this was how he died. Fried to a crisp by lightning. 

Rain began to pour from the sky, the waves from the sea had grown and now Lance could see the waves over the edge of the cliff. 

He started shaking as he stared at the water over the cliff becoming more and more visible as each new wave hit the edge. 

In the blink of an eye, the water from the sea whirled around Lance like a vortex. The water funneled higher towards the restless sky, until the water stopped moving, slipping back into the sea without warning. 

The sky cleared and the sea calmed. Everything appeared as still as it had been only a moment ago. 

Suddenly, a voice from the crowd gasped, followed by startled murmurs. 

All eyes fell upon the empty platform. 

_Lance had vanished._  

 

TO BE CONTINUED 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
> The story is getting a little easier to write and I had a lot of fun writing this chapter!  
> I started a new job this week, and I have been so overwhelmed I haven't even started the next chapter. It may take me two weeks to post again, and I am very sorry for the delay!
> 
> Please leave comments and suggestions!!!! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is confused. He travels to the land of the gods?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back foolz! So this chapter was hard for me to start writing, because I know what happens later and I want to write the fun and fluffy parts that are probably definitely going to happen.   
> I digress, though. If anyone knows an artist that wants to draw and/or paint Lance as I described him in his festival outfit, please let me know! Fanart is best!  
> For now,  
> Enjoy!

Lance felt like he was being squeezed and thrown into a stormy sea at the same time. But he also felt oddly calm, as if he knew he would be ok. He brushed it off as nerves as he was swirled about in the tornado of water.

Suddenly, Lance found himself face to face with dirt. It took a few moments for his brain to stop spinning, and he realized he didn’t feel squished anymore. He noticed he was sprawled on the ground, and slowly pushed himself to his knees.

As he looked around, he saw none of his town. It was gone, leaving him with a wall of desert to his back and a dusty path lined with small trees in front of him. _Was this...supposed to happen...?_ Lance thought briefly. He saw no other living beings around, and that unnerved him a bit. Just where the hell was he? Was he in Altea? Was he in some sort of hell, sent to wander until he died of hunger or dehydration? Had the god decided to smite him?

Lance sighed, deciding he would _definitely_ die if he just sat there, and opted to wandering. Who knows, maybe he was in Altea after all?

He followed the dirt path, seeing as it was the only open path available to him. His thoughts wandered back to the ceremony, and what happened to the sky right before he was delivered here.

It had turned dark and stormy, sure, but there was something else about it that made Lance still shiver with fear.

_It was wild._

It felt completely untamed, as if a certain death was the only thing that awaited Lance.

_Powerful._

It made Lance's knees buckle with the force of the booming thunder overhead. It felt more terrifying than Lance watching the destruction of the festival.

And the lightning! That raw electricity that had the power of destruction! Lance was now very nervous to meet the god.

 _Takashi Shirogane,_ Lance thought. He has heard that name since he could remember, uttered with reverence and respect. Would he approve of Lance being offered to him?

Hearing the clip clop of his feet on the ground, Lance realized that the dirt path had become stone. _Guess that means I am going in the right direction,_ he thinks.

He looked down the path briefly and saw that it led to the mouth of a cave.

_Ooooookkaaayy…_

As he nears the entrance to the cave, he sees that it is framed with purple flowers. Lance smiles as he took a moment to appreciate the splash of purple against the grey of the rock around the cave. If he was going to die here, at least it was peaceful.

The cave was dark, the only light seeming to come from the walls. As he got closer, Lance saw drawings lining the walls and ceiling, being illuminated by an unknown source. On closer inspection, they seemed to be depictions of various wars, maybe a record of the past? Lance tried not to pay too much attention to them.

The cave smelled strongly of a storm, and Lance was brought back to the ceremony. This cave, though, smelled…calm? Was that possible?

 _It feels like a calm sea after a storm has passed,_ Lance thinks. The smell grounds him, and settles his nerves a little.

After a few moments, he turns to the scribbles around him. There were several doodles of a lion coming to save what appeared to be villagers in a town. The lion was always the most detailed in these compositions, standing tall, or baring its teeth at its enemies. They were beautiful.

Lance was so enthralled by the drawings that he almost missed the large stone jutting out of the path, and he was thrown off balance as he tried to avoid falling over it. He had to dance around it to regain his balance, the heels definitely not helping him in any way.

He dusted himself off nervously and took a moment to calm himself. Lance thought that he heard the faint sound of rushing water. _A stream inside the cave?_

Lance finally paid mind to how parched he was, and set off more quickly towards the sound, hoping it wasn’t too far off.

The pathway started twisting this way and that, the ground sloping downwards slightly. Lance tried to keep track of his turns, right, then left, left, right…but he honestly started forgetting as he moved towards the water.

The drawings over the rocky surfaces got more intense. It started looking less like wars and more like…

_…Are they depicting…torture…?_

Lance saw a drawing showcasing an arm being amputated, and chose to focus on the path in front of him in lieu of the terrifying images.

The sound of splashing got louder with each turn Lance made, his pace had picked up to a near run. If he was running towards the promise of quenching his thirst, or to get away from the disturbing pictures, Lance didn’t know.

Suddenly, the cave walls fell away, and the bright sun was glaring down on him once more. Lance blinked in shock, panting heavily from running (and panicking). He looked around in confusion, and then again in awe.

There was a vast field of flowers in front of him coming to stop abruptly at a large gateway. As Lance looked around more, he failed to find any water.

 _But I heard water…_ Was he going crazy?

The gate itself ran in a straight line as far as Lance could see, arching into an entryway not too far from him. Nearby, a shaded tree stood tall, a slim figure leaning on the trunk at the base of the tree.

As Lance approached the man, he heard the man speaking. The man had bright orange hair, complete with a bushy, yet elegantly trimmed, mustache to match.

Lance was close enough to hear the man’s words. It appeared that he was mumbling to himself.

“...peculiar thing, I’d say. If my calculations are correct, it would appear to be the time for our Shiro to get a stack of gifts the size of an Arusian gambol hut. It sounds small, but it is actually quite large, of course. Hmmm… I could have sworn that it had been exactly one deca-phoeb since the last one. No matter!”

The man started to ramble a bit more as he turned to face Lance, but the man had his eyes closed as he continued to yap on and stroke his mustache.

Lance didn’t like standing there awkwardly, so he tried to speak to the man.

“…um, hello? sir?” Lance stated nervously.

“…Now I, myself, didn’t get a lot of presents in my youth excepting the major Altean holidays, of course, but no one expected when I got the best gift for my 479th birthday…” The man hadn’t heard Lance.

“Sir!” Lance tried more loudly.

“Oh! why, yes what can I…” The man blinked at Lance, taking in his appearance. “By the great Balmera! My boy, did you know that you are a human?”

Lance was confused at that question. “Um…yes?”

The man nodded at him, still playing with his mustache (nervous habit?). “Ah, yes. Very good, very good…hmmmm…? Wait a tick…A HUMAN?!? ON ALTEA!?!” The man suddenly reared back from Lance into an awkward pose.

Lance was unsure of what to do. Had the gods not heard their ceremony? How did it even work that they got the gifts? Lance’s thoughts were swimming around quickly, trying to figure out what to tell the shocked man.

“…I…We had a ceremony for our god, Takashi Shirogane? Um…we do it every year?” Lance tried to put his thoughts into a clear sentence, he really hoped the man could understand what he was trying to say.

The man immediately recovered then, to Lance’s surprise. “Ah of course! The ceremony that reinforces your bond with Shiro. I knew it was about that time, you know. So when can we be expecting the gifts to arrive? Are you delivering them? I don’t think villagers were supposed to deliver the gifts, but I’m not normally at this post, so – “

Lance cut him off. “I _am_ the gift. An offering to Shirogane. I am to offer my services to him to solidify the pact our village made with him all those years ago.”

A deafening quiet fell over the two men. Lance waited for the other man to speak, to say _anything_.

“You… _you_ are the gift…for Shiro…” The carrot top stated, staring wide-eyed at the bronze-skinned boy.

Lance nodded, not understanding why the man was confused. “Yes, that’s right.”

“Oh…yes…um…quite right…uh…let me just…Shall I call him, then?” He looked at Lance uneasily, fidgeting slightly as he spoke.

“Uh, well yeah. That’d be good.” Lance had no idea what to say to the man, he was so dumbfounded by the orange-haired man’s surprise. He hoped that this was just a fluke. Maybe the man was new around here?

The taller man walked towards the gate, and a high-tech screen of some sort appeared in front of him. Lance watched as the other man tapped the screen a bunch of times with his pointer finger. Suddenly, a voice came out of seemingly nowhere.

“Hey Coran, is something the matter?” It was a man’s voice, smooth and velvety to the ear. It made Lance’s heart flutter a little in his chest.

“Good day, Shiro! I have your gift here from your village if you would like to come and collect it…” The man, Coran, stated nervously.

“Sure thing, I’ll be right out.” The voice disappeared after that.

That voice, that beautiful voice, belonged to his town’s god. It made Lance blush in embarrassment. How could just a person’s _voice_ effect him so much. Especially being that he doesn’t even _know_ this person, god, even the slightest.

Lance figures it might be a while before the god, Shiro, shows up. He turns to Coran and tries striking up a conversation, hoping to pass the time.

“So…Coran, was it? Do you just…sit around here all day long?” He inquired. “Oh, I’m Lance, by the way.”

“Well, Lance my boy, I am actually a stand in, if you will, for the regular guard today. We like to give the guards around Altea some time off now and again. Turns out that we had a…mathematical error, and we ended up a guard short. So, here I am, guarding the gate!” Coran gestures dramatically at the gate, clearly very proud of himself.

“So now, Lance, tell me about yourself! You hail from the town Shiro protects, that much I know, of course, you have told me as much. So how did you become an offering, hm?”

Lance hesitated. Should he tell this person the truth? That he was offered to Shiro because he messed up? Would that matter to the god? Would that make him a less desirable gift? Lance was so unsure and he always overthought every situation. This one was no different.

He must have been in thought for a bit longer than he realized, because Coran gently placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Lance? You alright my boy?” He asked.

“What? Oh! Yeah! Sorry, just…I was a bit…caught in my own thoughts…” Lance stammered.

“Not to worry, m’boy! No need to apologize! Here, come over here and sit with me. We can chat while we wait.” He patted the ground under the tree where he had moved to sit under. Lance accepted his offer and sat in the shaded coolness of the tree.

“Now, back to my question. Did you volunteer to come over here? OH! Did you want to meet Shiro in person, so you volunteered to replace the regular gifts with yourself? I’ll bet you wanted to marry him, right? He is quite the catch, though personally not my type, of course. There was this one gal I fancied back in my younger years. And was she a _looker_! But I was more intrigued with her intellectual side, as she dabbled in true Altean technology. This was back many many deca-phoebs when Altea had not been blessed with the Quintessence of Voltron quite yet. But it was ever a peaceful time…”

Lance began to realize that this was a normal thing for Coran, being easily side-tracked. And although he preferred the many tangents the colorful man verbally pranced around, he figured he should explain himself.

“Coran,” he interrupted the yammering man. “I…I didn’t _choose_ to be a gift for Shirogane, per say. I mean, not that I am complaining, because I’m not! I swear! I just, I really messed up.” He proceeded to spin his sad tale to the other male, occasionally being on the verge of tears, the sting in his heart still a bit fresh to him.

He explained his hopes that he could do something useful around Altea, because he wasn’t sure that going back to his village was even an option anymore. Would his people accept him back if he was rejected? Or worse, what if he failed to help the god in any way?

“I am pretty good at cleaning, you know. Really! I just, I mean, I tend to spill things if I am not super careful but I am quick about most of the cleaning! Maybe I can be a janitor! Does Shirogane need a maid? I hope he doesn’t hate me…” Lance trailed off, mind wandering off into it’s own world of worry and doubt.

Before Coran could get in a word, the gates began to open, signaling Shiro’s arrival. The man that stepped outside of the gate made Lance’s mouth drop open in shock.

The man was tall, and very, _very_ muscular. Lance could tell he was fit even with his clothing layered over his massive body.

He had dark hair, save for a tuft of shocking white bangs. His face was attractive, jaw squared beautifully and set firm. He had a long scar that ran across his nose, and that served to make him look even more attractive, because not only was he fit, but he fought something. _and won._ The proof being clear in the fact that this man, this _god_ , was gracing Lance with his presence, alive and very much still strong enough to break bones.

Like Lance, he wore garments in matching colors. Black pants over muscled legs that met a trim waist. His torso sported a purple long sleeve shirt. There was a bright glowing purple gem set between his collar bones, and from it came silver chains that held up a thick, black cape. The cape came to a stop an inch above the ground, precisely.

His eyes were the craziest part of his appearance, though. They were grey, but not just a simple grey. No. Lance swore he was looking straight into a maelstrom of thunder and lightning.

 _And clouds,_ Lance thought. Beautifully grey storm clouds. It was impossible for Lance to look away from the man, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Was he drooling? He wasn’t sure he cared. He knew somewhere in his mind that he should say something to the god, but he was incapable of speech at the moment.

Shiro looked at Lance in confusion, before looking at Coran. “Coran, can you explain why a human is here in Altea? And where are those gifts you told me to come down here for?” He stood tall, with a commanding tone.

Lance couldn’t help the flutters his heart had suddenly picked up, upon hearing that wonderful voice again. Really, this god would be the death of him before he could even explain himself.

“Well, you see, Shiro, your gifts are…um how to put it? Let’s just say that Lance here is your gift this year.” Coran had an awkward tension set into him, Lance was again confused, and wondered if he missed something important.

“He is… _what?!”_ The stress and anger in that last word snapped Lance out of his musings and had fear and unease eating at his gut in an instant. Had he already done something wrong?

“Y-your gift. From your village? You reestablish your pact each year. Lance is here to form that bond with you in person.” Coran had a panicked look on his face, sweat beading at his temples, setting off Lance’s nerves even more.

Suddenly, Shiro’s gaze was upon Lance, eyes reflecting a fearsome storm. Lance saw the anger in them, and he could do nothing but stare fearfully into them. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move.

Shiro stepped towards Lance, towering over him. He was close enough that Lance could see the muscles in his jaw tighten and his hands ball into fists. Lance vaguely wondered if the man was trying to contain his evident anger.

The god opened his mouth to speak.

"Leave," He commanded.

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so SO sorry for the short chapter! I will really try to get better at making them a little longer. Coran was very VERY hard to write for, so I hope that he reads correctly here. Please let me know if there are artists that need commissions for voltron canary! I would love to have art for my story!
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> (PS leave comments or suggestions!!!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is rejected. Lance is also stubborn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey my dudes! Sorry for taking so long with the update! Work has been exhausting! I will try to update more often. So this chapter is going to be FUN. Starts with Shiro’s perspective and then back to Lance and craziness happens but Shiro isn’t the dick he appears to be. Run-on sentence there. Anyway, have fun! Let me know if it’s good!  
> Enjoy!

SHIRO POV

“Leave,” Shiro found himself saying with no hesitation.

He could not believe after all this time, his village would send him a _human offering._ He didn’t really need any of the gifts he was normally sent, as he would protect the village regardless. However, he accepted them because it was polite. His people never gave him more than they could afford to, and he was fine with that. He was protecting the village, so he didn’t need them to starve in order to give _him_ things he really didn’t need.

But sending him a human, a living being? He thought he had made it clear that the village would not do that. Surely, they remembered that time…though it _had_ been around three centuries ago now that he thought about it. Perhaps the people honestly _did_ forget. Shiro sighed, he really did not need to relive such a time, not right now, when he was perfectly happy.

It didn’t matter what the people remembered or forgot, though, because Shiro determined that he would send the male back home with instructions that the pact was still strong, and no human offering would ever be required. Shiro would set to remind the village of this every single year from now on, to prevent such misunderstandings.

He looked towards the boy he was sent. The male was beautiful, no doubt about that. He was dressed in Shiro’s traditional colors, black and purple, which only accentuated his gorgeous tan skin. It also helped that there was a lot of visible skin to accentuate. Really now, did the village _have_ to send him here in such a revealing outfit? Shiro supposed it was to make the boy look appealing to him, and it did a very good job of that.

Shiro must have been too absorbed in his thoughts, as the boy standing by Coran was gawking at him. Shiro was about to tell him to go back to his village when the boy spoke.

“I can’t,” he said awkwardly, fidgeting slightly and turning his gaze to the ground. “I…I need to stay here.”

Shiro was surprised by the boy’s words, and he assumed the boy was told the fate of the village depended on his success here. No matter, Shiro would set it straight.

“You needn’t worry,” Shiro stated, the boy looking up in surprise at his voice. “Go back to your village, and deliver this message for me –“

“NO!” the boy yelled, blue eyes raised to look into Shiro’s grey ones. The boy’s eyes were wide and desperate. Shiro was shocked speechless, and even Coran had jumped at the sudden boldness the boy displayed.

“No,” the boy said softer, eyes back on the ground. “You don’t understand, I _can’t_ go back…” The boy looked tense, and Shiro pitied him a bit.

“Look,” Shiro spoke more softly. “I know your people must have given you instructions about what to do here, but you do not need to do any of that. Your pact with me will still stand, and no further gifts are required. Just go back home.”

Shiro was certain that he got his point across, so he turned then and left back through the gate and towards the castle.

__________________________________________

 

LANCE’S POV

 _No…no no no no no!! This can’t happen! He wouldn’t even listen! He doesn’t understand that being here is my punishment!_ Lance’s mind went from shock to panic is mere seconds after Shiro’s retreat. He’d failed. AGAIN.

 _Dammit._ _There_ has _to be a way out of this, or a way to fix it, or…_ Lance couldn’t even begin to think of ways to repair this situation. He started shaking from the internal terror he faced as reality sunk in.

After a time of pacing, shaking, and talking to himself under his breath, Lance came to one conclusion: a stake-out. He was going sit there until Shiro let him in, or he eventually died. He hoped it was the first option.

That decided, Lance turned to Coran, who was talking over the same system he used to contact Shiro. Lance waited until Coran finished with whomever he was speaking with before trying to get his attention.

“Coran,” Lance said with a surprising amount of confidence. “I just want you to know, I am not going to leave. My village won’t want me back, I told you all that before…So, I plan on sitting beneath this tree until that guy…uh…god…comes back and lets me stay!” He finished a bit roughly, but was proud of himself nonetheless. He even put his hands on his hips to emphasize his determination.

“Marvelous! This reminds me of the camping excursions I made when I was just a boy! We would sing and play games and cook delicious food! Of course, half the time we were chased away by a xxnly squiwl…actually, come to think of it, that _did_ happen more times than not…” Coran babbled.

“Uh, Coran?” Lance said, confused by the man.

“Hm? Oh, right! Just let me go bring out some supplies for our, um, camping extravaganza! You are in for a treat, my boy! I happen to know the best Altean treats to make for camping trips! You don’t mind watching the front gate, do you? Do not let anyone through the gate until I return! Be back in a tick!” And with that, Coran was jetting off towards the castle, excitement evident as Lance watched him all but skip to the castle.

Lance was left alone, wondering if Coran realized that he did not even know how to work the gate, let alone allow anyone to enter. He supposed it didn’t matter, since that meant that no one could enter anyway.

He went to recline against the truck of the tree, the leaves high above him providing excellent shade. His gaze wandered from the gate to the field just past it, and then back down the path that he had taken from the cave. He took a deep, slow breath and let it out slowly, feeling a bit relaxed now that it seemed Coran at least would not chase him away. A snort of laughter left him as he thought he could be the new guard at the gate, not bothering anyone and, since he cannot open the gate, he had no real way to fail.

Lance became aware that this was the first time he had sort of laughed in many…months? Years? Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure when he was able to truly able to laugh last. Well, at least laugh from humor or joy instead of bitter irony.

There was a mild breeze that passed through, making the flowers in the field and the leaves on the tree sway. It was a gentle, cool breeze that smelled heavily of sea. It was a nice scent and Lance closed his eyes, basking in it for a time.

It had been maybe an hour since Coran had left when Lance heard the man bumbling back through the gate, wheeling a cart piled high with supplies that Lance was unsure they actually needed.

“Alrighty, Lance my boy! Come help me set this up and we can get this camp out started!” The orange-haired man said delightedly, arms thrust out as if he were offering a large hug.

Lance smiled and stood from his position under the tree, making his way over to help Coran unload the cart and set up whatever they needed. _At least,_ Lance thought, _I am not alone._ His smile widened a little after that, and he helped Coran not make a mess of the cart as they unloaded.

Once the cart was emptied, Lance stood proudly with his hands on his hips, sweat beading on his forehead. He had managed to help categorize the items as they took them off the cart and now that everything was in order, they could start making a shelter of sorts (not that they needed it, but Coran insisted that this was how camping was done, and thus, Lance humored the man).

Coran had gotten the basic structure of the shelter, but was confused at how it was to stay up. Lance, knowing a little bit about stabilizing things (even though he messed up many of them before the ceremony), helped the hyper man make sure the foundation was set before tossing over a blanket to, as Coran had put it, “protect them from the elements.” Lance was pretty sure the blanket would be useless in rain, but he wasn’t going to point that out because surprisingly, he was having too much fun for once.

They put away the rest of the supplies and Lance watched Coran dance about as he made a fire for them to sit around.

“So we sit around the fire and do…what, exactly?” Lance asked, staring at the growing flame consuming the wood Coran had brought.

“Ghost stories, my boy! We tell ghost stories! WOOOOooooo!” The man explained as he mimicked a ‘scary’ ghost. Lance couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at the man.

“Uh, I don’t really know any ghost stories…” Lance admitted sheepily. He had never really had time for games after he started working, and his family never took a break from work to do anything fun like camping. It wasn’t really his fault he had a lack of ghost stories in his repertoire.

“Oh good! I was hoping you would let me go first! Once there was a boy…”

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance blinked awake, sleep still sitting heavily upon him. He lifted himself off the cushions that Coran had brought for them and noticed the other man snoring quietly on his cushions nearby. Lance must have fallen asleep during one of Coran’s many, _many_ stories. It seemed as if he had stories for days, even weeks, to tell him.

After the first three ghost stories, Coran launched into stories of humor, romance, bravery, you name it. Lance was captivated by the stories and the other man seemed very happy to tell them, even beginning to act them out at one point. Eventually, they returned to tales from Coran’s youth before Lance inevitably fell asleep.

Lance felt a bit guilty for snoozing while Coran regaled him with glamorous tales, for they were definitely entertaining, and he didn’t want the enthusiastic man thinking he was bored of him. He will have to apologize to him when he woke up.

He decided to build a new fire and see if he could cook any of the food that the sleeping man had brought. He set newer wood into the pile of cold, charred pieces and lit a fire with the lighter that Coran had used the previous night.

Once he got the fire roaring to life, Lance took some of the meats that were packed in a cooler and put them on sticks over the fire. They started sizzling after a while, a pleasant aroma wafting through the air.

Coran shifted in his sleep, probably smelling the food that was cooking. Lance smiled as he went about, peeling what looked like potatoes and slicing them to make hash browns. He hoped that they would cook right, since he had only seen his mother make them, never making them himself after a few food-related mishaps made his mother suggest he busy himself with never cooking again. He smiled at the memory, grateful that his camping companion was sleeping, giving him the opportunity to cook again.

Lance had just finished plating some vegetables when Coran woke up, instantly beside the food with his mouth watering.

“This smells astounding, Lance my boy! You didn’t have to cook this all by yourself!”

Lance smiled at the man as he handed him a plate piled with food.

“Nah, it’s ok! It was actually fun to cook…” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed by the praise the man had given him.

Coran smiled and they chatted away as they ate their meal.

The sun had risen a bit once they finished eating, and they took to playing various card games, which Coran mysteriously always seemed to win. Nonetheless, Lance was having fun, and really hoped that the gods would let him stay.

Suddenly, the gates opened, and a young man that looked about Lance’s height walked out. He had long, dark hair that Lance was amused with. It looked like a mullet, and that had gone out of style many years ago. The man spoke without looking up.

“Coran, I’m going out to see my village, “ he said in a bore tone before glancing up. “I expect to be…Who is that?”

“Ah, this would be Lance! We are camping! Delightful, isn’t it?” Coran said in a chipper tone.

“Lance? He looks human…wait. I know who you are! Coran! Didn’t Shiro say that this _boy_ was to be sent back to his village?” The young man’s anger apparent in his violet eyes.

“Ah, well, yes he did say that. But, Keith-“

“If Shiro said he has to leave, he _has_ to leave! You can’t just go against our word, Coran! Send him back immediately! I am visiting my village, and I will be back in a few hours. If he isn’t gone by that time, I’m gonna get Shiro and he will _not_ be happy.”

With that, the moody man left down the path Lance had previously taken.

Lance was angry. _Who does he think he is? I can’t go back! And let Shirogane be mad! Then I can actually talk to him and convince him to let me stay!_ Lance’s thoughts raged on as Coran went to the gates and spoke quietly over the intercom (as the man had informed Lance during their card games).

“Well,” Coran said. “He said a few hours, right? No reason we can’t finish our game in the meantime!” He seemed nonplussed about the current situation, so Lance went with it.

 _Screw that other guy, Keith, I guess it is. Stupid Mullet…_ Lance thought as the two dove back into their card game.

After about thirty minutes, the gates opened once more, revealing, not Shiro, but a beautiful woman. She was tall, with dark skin, and gorgeous silver hair that hung in long waves down her back. She was wearing a long pink dress with gold trim, and a matching capelet that sat around her shoulders. Her crystal blue eyes made her beauty radiate even more.

Coran had gone to the gates to greet her and they exchanged hushed words that Lance couldn’t quite grasp. The woman looked at Lance, and, smiling, made her way over to him. He stood as she neared the tree, thinking it would be rude not to.

“Hello,” she greeted, and accent gracing her voice. “I’m Allura.”

“Um…Lance,” he replied, feeling a bit awkward.

“Coran has told me a bit about your, er, _situation._ I hope you don’t mind.”

“Uh…I guess I don’t really mind?” Why was that important to her? Did _she_ pity him? Did Coran? Did she come to force him to leave? Oh god! What if by demanding that he stay, he was intruding on some sort of sacred law? Would they forgive him for breaking a law that he didn’t know about?

The woman continued, blissfully unaware of Lance’s inner turmoil. “I would like to help you with that, if you’ll allow it. I want you to stay here, in Altea, as a sort of, helping hand to each of the gods. You would be required to get to know each person, and assess where they need help in their daily routines. For example, I happen to know our god of fire is a very messy person, and could use help tidying up around his quarters. I can sense that you will be excellent help to all of us, in time. I have a feeling that you and the others will become great friends, as well. So what do you say, Lance? Would you like to stay in Altea?”

Lance was shocked silent. She _wanted_ to let him stay? _Him?!_ He always messed things up, but didn’t she say that Coran told her about him? Wouldn’t she know this already? How could she think that he would still be useful, after knowing his failures?

Lance had to shake his head to clear it, before answering.

“Yes. Of course I’ll stay! I’ll do my best to be helpful to everyone! Please let me stay…” He trailed off, realizing that he had started to beg. _She_ was the one that asked _him_ to stay. Of course she was going to let him stay. _Stupid Lance…_

“Wonderful!” She said, her hands clapped together as she brought them to an angle near her collarbone to show her excitement. “I am sure that the others will be delighted to meet you!”

Allura started back towards the gates and Lance followed, hardly daring to believe his luck at the moment. He was really going to live in Altea with the Guardian Gods! Never in his wildest dreams had he thought he would even get to _see_ Altea, never mind _living_ there. Sure, he now had a job to do, but Allura and Coran seemed nice enough, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for him? Maybe he could actually be _good_ at something this time. He could _help_ someone; he could help the _gods_.

 _Oh crap, shit! I am going to be a freaking_ servant _to the most powerful gods. The gods that could, with one more person, form the Spell of Voltron! WHAT IF I GET TO SEE THEM DO THE SPELL AND SAVE THE WHOLE…planet? Universe? Whatever, I…I finally got something right…_

Lance followed Allura, his head whipping from side to side just to take in as much as he could. They were almost past the field, and Lance saw the castle starting to come more into view. It was breathtaking, to say the least.

The castle hub, if you will, towered high and regal, accented by what looked like teal blue panels. Their purpose was as of yet unknown to Lance, but they seemed to glow in the sunlight.

From that main area, there were enclosed walkways shooting off into at least four other, smaller, towers. They all had the same teal blue paneled designs on them.

There were pathways that appeared to lead through and around the entirety of the castle and its surrounding grounds. Lance briefly wondered if there was a garden somewhere with a pond or a lake. It seemed to be the type of thing hidden away inside the perimeter of the castle.

Lance looked in wonder at everything, down to the plain-looking pillars that made up the castle’s foundation. Even the most simple of details looked perfect and royal to Lance. And he got to _live_ here now. He would forever be in awe of this place, and hoped that he would dream about it in his sleep so even unconscious, he wouldn’t have to leave this fantasy.

Allura lead him into the castle hub, and through a door that brought them to what Lance assumed was the center of this particular tower. The room was extravagant: high ceilings, alabaster floors, highly detailed tapestries that hung on the walls around the room. Lance was utterly flabbergasted. This was only _one_ room and the grandeur was beyond Lance’s wildest dreams.

In the center of the room was a circle of plush couches, upon which two people sat, chatting away. One was short and thin, with short brown hair and pale skin. The other was taller, and had darker skin and hair. Allura led Lance towards them.

“Pidge, Hunk,” she said, interrupting their conversation. “I would like you to meet Lance. He will be living with us from now on, and helping each of us with anything we need.”

Lance felt shy under the sudden attention, and gave a half-smile in the general direction of the two.

“Oh, sweet! Hi, Lance! I’m Hunk, but…Allura just said that…so you already know my name…” The taller man said.

“Um, hi, Hunk…” Lance said politely.

“What the crap are you _wearing?”_ A voice next to Lance asked, and he looked to see the shorter of the two looking closely at his state of dress with a confused expression on their face. When had she gotten so close?

“I…uh…This was what my village had me wear for…” Lance looked to Allura for help.

She chuckled before speaking. “Lance here was offered by his village to Shiro as a gift. Shiro, of course, did not wish to have any help, so I decided that the rest of us could benefit from Lance being here.”

“Oh, yeah. That makes sense.” The smaller one, Pidge, said. “Hey, maybe you can help me around the science and technology lab! It’s pretty messy.” She sounded very proud of this fact.

“Uh, sure.” Lance said with a shrug.

“OH! I was going to bake a TON of goodies tomorrow! You can totally help with that!” Hunk was very excited about the prospect.

Lance smiled, relaxing a bit and nodded. These two seemed nice, unlike the ill-mannered Keith. He knew he was going to enjoy talking with them and helping them, as well as Allura. Lance wondered if he would ever become anything other than bothersome to Keith, but he decided not to think on it too much.

As if he had summoned the hotheaded man, Keith marched into the room in a huff. Clearly, visiting his town had not gone well.

Pidge was the first to pry into his ill mood. “Visit was a bust? What did they do this time? Give you _more_ gifts for bothering to come to the village in person?” Lance noted that her tone was teasing with a hint of snarky within.

 _Does Keith not like getting gifts?_ Lance wondered to himself. That was answered for him when Keith started complaining about how the people were terrified of him and keep giving him gifts, expecting him to blow up at them.

“They are convinced that I’m some sort of _monster_ of a god who will use anything as an excuse to hurt them. I have _never_ done anything that would give them that idea of me!! Literally, NOTHING!!!”

Pidge giggled slightly, amused at his distress. “It’s probably your face that makes them think that, you know.”

Keith glared at her. “What’s wrong with my _face?!”_ His irritation was building more with each moment.

“You are _always_ frowning, and glaring!” She said with confidence. “You look like a wet cat. You look like you ate something sour. You…you look like you smelled something awful! Pick one, I’m sure I can come up with more!” Pidge was definitely enjoying this a _little_ too much.

Keith rolled his eyes at her, finally landing them on Lance. His face took upon a dark appearance.

“What the _fuck_ is _he_ doing here?! Shiro turned him away! Did Coran let you in? You little – “

Allura cut him off. “ _I_ brought him inside, Keith. He is useful to us, even if Shiro does not need him. Leave Shiro to _me_. I will inform him of the change in plans regarding Lance.” This was not a request, but a command.

Keith glared some more, but didn’t say anything else.

Allura turned to Hunk. “Hunk, why don’t you show Lance where he will be staying? It is the empty room next to yours.” Hunk nodded eagerly.

“Yes! We are gonna be next-door neighbors! Sweet! This is exciting! Are you excited, Lance?”

Lance couldn’t do anything but smile at the large man, his energy was infectious. “Of course, Hunk!” And it was true. Lance counted himself lucky that he was put near Hunk and not near Keith. He hoped Keith’s room was far away from his.

Lance followed Hunk through the hallways and up a few floors, and at this point, he was completely lost. “Hunk…..Please never leave me alone in this place, its….confusing!”

Hunk belly laughed loudly and patted him on the back. “I know, right? It takes a while to get used to, but you will get the hang of it, don’t worry,” he assured Lance.

Lance was still skeptical of that claim. “If you say so…”

Hunk led him down a long hallway that had a bunch of doors and almost double that in floor to ceiling windows.

“Ok, so here is the rundown: This one,” Hunk pointed to the first door on the right. “That is Pidge’s room. If she doesn’t specifically tell you to go in, don’t. Like, _ever._ ”

That made Lance nervous enough to not even want to be invited to enter that room. He simply nods and they walk a bit further.

“This one belongs to yours truly,” he gestures to the first room on the left. “Next to me is…..YOU! Ta-da!” Hunk makes a shaking movement with both hands as they get to the next door on the left.

Hunk points across the hallway to the remaining doors. “Those ones on the right are Shiro’s and Keith’s, respectively. And the last one on the left is empty, but Keith really wants to make it his workout studio, even though we already have a training room _and_ outdoor training arena.” He shakes his head in amusement.

Lance smiles at him and looks over to his own door, putting his hand on the handle.

It doesn’t open.

Frowning, Lance looks at Hunk, who smiles at him, and explains that he has to put his hand on the pad next to the door.

“It’s really cool! It scans your fingerprints and then opens the door automatically! And once you are inside, you can lock it so even people who you allow to enter your room regularly can’t unless you unlock it. The door handles are basically just decoration.”

“Wow, that’s…so cool!” Lance said, awestruck at the technology.

“Come on! let’s explore your new digs, man!” And Hunk hurried Lance inside.

“This…this is _my_ room?!” Lance gaped at the sheer glamour of it all, from expensive looking tapestries, to very plush chairs and couches.

Hunk laughed. “No, man! This is your common room! It is where you can invite guests to hang out and stuff. And look!” Hunk sprinted over to a door across the room. “This door connects with my common room so we can have parties and sleep-overs, and stuff!”

He was so excited that Lance didn’t have the heart to tell him that adults don’t have “sleep overs”. Lance glanced over the large room and spotted another door, presumably to the actual sleeping quarters. His curiosity got the best of him and he went through the door, using the pad beside it to open it. The bedroom was huge as well, though smaller than the common room. There was one massive bed instead of the couches and chairs that the first room had held, and also had a nice wooden dresser and matching bedside tables.

Lance saw yet _another_ door across from the bed, and when he entered, found it to be a bathroom. Lance noted that the bathroom itself was big and the bathtub was big enough to fit three of Lance inside and still be comfortable. It was more than Lance had ever expected.

It was all overwhelming for him. All of this luxury, this extravagance, was now _his_. He could not believe it all.

He returned to the common room where Hunk was looking at the books that sat on a bookcase Lance had not originally noticed. Although he could read, Lance wasn’t sure he would want to so much as even touch the books, as their covers looked very fancy.

Lance was jolted out of his thoughts when loud footsteps echoed through the halls and he heard a door across the hall open and shut.

It had sounded close to his own room, and Lance knew it could only be one person.

“Man, Shiro is never that loud. Must be mad or something.” Hunk said, returning to look at the books.

Lance wondered if it was because Allura kept him here instead of sending him away as Shiro had.

 _Great._ He thought miserably. _Guess he hates me too…_

 

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun DDDDUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!! Not really too much of a cliffhanger but I guess my cliffhangers have been a bit dramatic so far. I am having fun with this story and I really want to get to writing my favorite parts. I have a lot of favorite parts. Thanks for reading and as always, suggestions and comments are appreciated. Kudos if you like my story!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Hunk have a day of baking and bonding! Fluff!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Back with another chapter. This one will have a lot of bonding between Lance and Hunk and maybe I will throw in some angst and pain? I have a general plan for PLENTY of plot and fluff in the upcoming chapters so stay tuned!

Lance stared at his doorway, contemplating Shiro’s loud behavior. Was he upset because he found out Allura let him stay? Had she told him? Does he not want Lance here because he hates him? Maybe he knows about Lance and his inability to succeed at basic life skills? Had the village sent him a warning ahead of time, making sure the god would get rid of him?

Hunk was unable to read Lance’s thoughts, so he went on examining Lance’s room.

All of the rooms were similar in basic structure, so there really wasn’t anything for Hunk to look at in Lance’s room. However, he liked to examine how the rooms looked before they were lived in and had the personal touch of whoever lived inside. It was really interesting to see the transformation from pristine courtly manner, to that which truly reflected the traits and personalities of each individual. It was something Hunk loved about seeing a new person move in.

Of course, Hunk had only seen that once when Pidge moved in, but he was able to visit the other gods’ rooms on occasion and was thrilled to be able to see the state of their “personalities” versus his own.

Hunk turned to relay this to Lance and realized that Lance’s outfit did not cover very much at all. He eyed the delicate fabrics that were dyed black and purple and frowned. This would not do at all.

“Lance, what say we get you something, more comfortable to wear?” Hunk tried his best not to sound too awkward.

For the first time since he arrived, Lance actually _looked_ at what he was wearing. A flush of embarrassment climbed up his neck and face and he nodded at Hunk.

“Probably a good idea,” he commented.

Hunk smiled and led him into Lance’s bedroom and over to a bare wall near the large window.

“You have to tap these panels here and here,” Hunk said as he demonstrated by touching nearly invisible panels on the wall. “Here we go!”

Suddenly, the whole wall was illuminated with pictures. Each picture represented a type of clothing. Lance couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Is this…can everyone here do magic?” Lance stared at the wall, mouth agape.

“What? No, this isn’t magic. It’s technology! The original Alteans made the program for the castle but when Pidge got here…man, you should have _seen_ her! She improved every system that had been here by huge leaps and bounds! In just mere _weeks_! WEEKS!! It was amazing! I actually had Pidge teach me some of that stuff and it is _so_ cool, Lance. I love technology!”

Technology? Lance remembered Pidge mentioned something similar when he had met her, but never would he have thought that it could mean anything like _this_.

He probably stared quietly for too long, because Hunk waved a hand in front of his face and grinned at him, clearly amused at his amazement with the wall.

Pointing to the panels, Hunk told him how to use the panels to select a clothing option, which cleared the wall and put new images of the selected category upon it. There were so many, the vast amount of options in the single category shocked Lance. How was he supposed to choose between each the alternatives?

Seeming to understand his dilemma, Hunk chose about 10 different styles of shirts from the shirt category, and a few other things from the pant, shoe, and undergarment categories.

“Oh! So, this right here, this will scan you to determine your sizes so that all your clothes fit! It is super awesome!”

“Wait, the wall _makes_ the clothes for me?!” Lance looked at Hunk in disbelief.

“Well, not the wall exactly, it’s really the intelligence of the technological system Pidge improved that is built into all of the bedroom walls that makes the clothes. But, I mean, essentially?” Hunk was clearly entertained by Lance’s bewildered state. Hunk selected a few more items and then the wall went blank save for three images.

“I selected the basic essential clothing for you, but you can always make more later. This screen is where you finalize the colors of the clothes you selected and then you can set the system to make it for you. It really doesn’t take long to synthesize though, it is really a work of genius, this setup. Pidge really outdid herself with the improvements. You can even choose the gems in any of the accessories! It’s amazing.”

As Hunk gushed on about the technology and Pidge, Lance looked through the color options displayed on the – screen, wall…screen-wall? It appeared that you could choose a general color for all the clothes, or an entire palette, if you wish. There was even option to choose the colors for each individual clothing piece. The detail was truly impeccable.

Lance was sifting through the shades of purple when Hunk spoke to him again, his tone a bit shy and awkward. “Hey, so, basically each guardian here has like a specific color that represents them. Obviously, you probably knew that. Anyway, since you aren’t, you know, staying here like, _for_ Shiro, you might, maybe, want to choose your own color to wear?” Hunk gave Lance a weird half-smile, his eyes looked at Lance practically begging him to just go with it.

So, Lance did. He went through the colors again and picked a palette of blues for himself and clicked the synthesize button.

“Uh so there was an option to choose the fabrics you wanted but I usually just end up making the AI choose for me. I hope you don’t mind, but I had already chosen that setting for you,” Hunk mumbled, fidgeting and shifting next to Lance.

“I wouldn’t really know the first thing about fabrics, so it was a good call. Thanks for your help, I would have never been able to figure this all out on my own.”

“Oh, yeah! Anytime, buddy! Anyway, your clothes should be made pretty quickly, and Alfor will put them into your drawers over there. The castle was made without normal closets, so we had to make one for each guardian. We didn’t make them for the empty rooms yet though, so you will have to just keep most of your clothes in the drawers for now until we get you a wardrobe. You should probably take a shower, there will be a few clothing options done by then.”

“Um, Hunk? Who is Alfor? Will I meet him too?” Lance hadn’t heard any mention of the name before then, so he wasn’t sure if they already had a maid or something working at the castle. He supposed it would have made sense, though. But if that was true, why did Allura say he was needed here?

“Oh, uh, well. Actually, Alfor is the name of Allura’s late father. He was the King of the Altean race and a wonderful man. But, when I said that Alfor would put your clothes away, I meant the system. Pidge and I decided to name the technology we use after him, because he had encouraged the advancement in technology and he also meant a lot to Allura, so we thought it fit nicely.”

Oh, that was not what Lance had expected at all. He was a little horrified at the relief that flowed through him knowing that there was not any competition with his “job”. But he was also touched that the gods here had been thinking of each other like that, almost like a family. It made him a little bit more relaxed and comforted, to say the least.

“Secretly, though, I think that Pidge had accidentally come across Allura during one of her grieving times and she wanted to help lift Allura’s spirits. She would never admit that, though. Pidge is stubborn like that.” Hunk’s face had softened as he thought of the smaller guardian.

Lance wondered about the relationship of the two briefly, deciding that he would ask the other man about when he got to know him more. Filing that thought away for a later time, Lance informs Hunk that he is going to shower and the cuddly man takes his leave, allowing Lance some privacy.

Lance went into the, his, bathroom and undressed, taking care to fold the clothes he was wearing and set them on the vanity. He went to the shower and turned the nozzles, amazed that the water that poured out was already hot and he didn’t need to wait for the water to warm as he had in his village. He usually had to take the coldest showers, being the youngest in his family and last one to use the shower at home. Now, however, it seemed like he would be able to take hot showers whenever he wanted.

Turning the water to a temperature that would not melt his skin, Lance stepped into the shower and relished the warmth that poured over his skin, cleaning the grime that had accumulated while he had camped outside with Coran. Once he rinsed the dirt off, Lance grabbed the soap that was in the shower and proceeded to lather his body generously with it. It smelled lightly of lavender, a scent that soothed Lance as he washed himself.

Once the soap was rinsed off, Lance noticed a few other bottles sitting on the shower shelves, and he looked at them curiously. They were labeled with pictures, but no words. Lance shrugged and poured a bit of one bottle onto his hands. Lance rubbed it into his hair and, finding that it was the same scent as the soap, he decided to smooth it over his body as well.

He rinsed the sweet-smelling products off, and then turned the shower off and stepped out onto the plush rug that was set just outside of the shower. He found towels hanging nearby and took one to dry himself off. Wrapping a towel around himself, he made his way back into his bedroom and looked through the drawers as Hunk had told him to do.

He found a pair of black pants and a deep blue shirt. After pulling a pair of boxer briefs on, Lance dressed in the shirt and pants. As an afterthought, he grabbed a soft hooded sweater to wear. He had been a little cold while walking through the halls before, so he gratefully welcomed the warm fabric around him.

After pulling on some socks and the only pair of shoes that had been synthesized at the moment, he went back into the common room and headed towards the door. He was going to go to Hunk’s room, and after a second, a thought occurred to him and he changed his route to the door that joined their rooms and knocked on it, unsure if he should just walk right in or not. After a moment, the door burst open to a smiling Hunk.

“Lance! You’re finished dressing! I missed you!” Hunk grabbed the boy into a binding hug, lifting Lance off the ground a few inches and causing him to laugh at his antics.

  
“I’m literally right next door, Hunk,” Lance said, a wide smile gracing his features.

Hunk laughed too and set him down. “I know, but I was so bored! And I was worried that I hadn’t explained how to use everything properly. But you seemed to have had no trouble so that is good.”

Lance nodded, glad that Hunk was so helpful and nice. It was a vast change from the treatment he had received at his village, and most of the other guardians seemed decently nice. Except maybe Keith. And Shiro was in a bad mood. Lance winced inwardly, remembering the loud stomping of the large man, and wondering the reason behind his attitude earlier.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud rumbling in his stomach, causing Lance to blush heavily in embarrassment. Hunk just laughed.

“Oh, yeah. Me too, buddy. Me too. Should we go down to the dining room and see if dinner is ready yet?”

Lance’s face brightened at the idea and he nodded excitedly, suddenly very famished.

The two made their way down the halls to the dining area, Lance allowing Hunk to lead, being hopelessly lost otherwise. They heard voices as they approached the room, and entered to find Pidge, Coran, and Allura talking pleasantly amongst themselves.

“Ah! Lance, Hunk! Spectacular timing, my boys! Dinner will be finished shortly!” Coran beamed at the two as they took their seats along the table. Hunk eyed Coran warily.

“Did you cook…?” He questioned the enthusiastic man, skeptically.

Coran guffawed at Hunk, tears prickling at the edge of his eyes from the sheer force of his laughter. “Fear not, number two! Alfor has cooked this evening’s meals. Although I will say that Lance here has eaten my cooking himself and not perished! It seems that my skills have improved somewhat!”

The conversation picked back up and Hunk leaned over to Lance.

“Be careful with Coran’s cooking, it is usually terrible. I let him cook once and I thought it was chocolate cake.” He shook his head. “Chicken should _not_ be that color, ever.”

Lance giggled silently, his shoulders shaking as he fought to not bust out laughing.

As the conversation grew to a comfortable murmur, Keith suddenly entered the dining room. He looked around the table, nodded vaguely and sat down, frown imprinted on his face.

As if Keith had sensed it, dinner was done and there was a flash of light at the table. Food and silverware had suddenly appeared, filling every nook and cranny of visible space. Lance practically drooled at the spread, hungrier than he had ever remembered being in his life.

“Well, dig in everyone!” Hunk exclaimed, beginning to dish himself a heaping portion of food.

Lance didn’t know where to start, it all looked fantastically delicious. Luckily, he didn’t have to, because Hunk had finished piling his own plate, and had started dishing for Lance. The second he set down the plate, Lance attacked it, devouring the mountain of food as quickly as he could.

Hunk chuckled and told him to slow down, there was clearly enough food for everyone to have their fill. The table laughed at Lance’s eagerness, and even the gloom of Keith’s face had lessened into an amused smirk. The dinner went by cheerfully as each person had their fill.

As Hunk and Lance walked back down the hall towards the rooms, Lance realized that Shiro hadn’t been present at dinner, and he worried about the god who had apparently holed himself up in his room for the whole day.

Lance went to bed that night wondering if Shiro would be alright, if he would warm up to the idea of Lance being at the castle. He hoped that Shiro would want his help with something, anything. Maybe if he did something useful, the god wouldn’t dislike him, though he appeared to not want anything to do with him.

__________________________________________

 

The next morning when Lance went to breakfast (with Hunk, of course, still easily lost in the castle), Shiro hadn’t shown up then, either. He hoped the guardian was alright, and that someone had brought him food, at the very least.

The morning passed easily, with Lance chatting up Allura and Coran for a few hours. He learned that Coran thought of himself as an explorer, a camping expert, adventurer, and space traveler (though Lance was highly doubtful the man had done most of those things, especially traveled in space).

It was a fun, comfortable atmosphere, and by the time Hunk came to get him so they could bake, Lance’s face hurt from how long he had been smiling. When was the last time he had enjoyed himself this much? Well, aside from the time he had spent with Coran, of course.

Just remembering that time made Lance chuckle a bit. This place was quickly becoming a place he could call home. He hoped everyone would think the same.

He followed Hunk into the kitchen and watched as the taller man went around pulling out bowls and utensils, before realizing that he should probably be helping him. He immediately asked what he could do, and Hunk told him a few ingredients to pull out.

Hunk was explaining all of the different things they could make, and Lance began to feel hungry just hearing about it all.

“I think we should make a few batches of cookies, and a cake, maybe two? Have you ever baked a cake Lance? Man, it’s fun! Oh! We should make cream puffs! Or, no! crème brulee! What do you think?”

“I know what cookies are,” Lance said, chuckling at Hunk. “Why don’t we start there?”

Hunk agreed and began to teach Lance how to make the dough. He taught him how to measure each part, and when was the best time and way to add each ingredient so that it would taste the best and bake evenly.

Lance would have never guessed that baking was this involved, but he also wasn’t too surprised. He never really was much help when it came to cooking at home, so it was nice to learn about it. For a moment, he allowed himself to think of the possibility of making something for Shiro. It could be a peace offering for the god as well as an extension of friendship. _Or would that seem to intimate? Like something lovers would do for each other…_ He quickly thought of something else, however, a faint blush creeping to his cheeks.

“Um, hey, Hunk? What powers does each god have? I should probably become familiar with that, right?” Lance had just finished putting the last piece of dough from his bowl onto the baking sheet when he turned towards the other man.

Hunk smiled at him, taking the mixing spoons that were no longer needed to a counter that was not being used. He gestured for Lance to follow and leaned against the counter as Lance hopped up to sit on the one opposite Hunk.

Hunk handed him a spoon and they both proceeded to lick the dough off, enjoying the sweet treat. After a few moments, Hunk spoke.

“That is a very long story. Luckily, we have a lot of cookies to bake. Ok. I will start with myself, then. I am known as the God of Bounty or the God of Harvest. You see, I have the power to make the ground fertile and produce not only the _best_ food, but a _lot_ of it. So much, in fact, that it actually became a problem with my village having _too much_ food.

“So, clever person that I am, I decided to declare a condition on my village. They would share their bounty with the villages surrounding them and declare them as allies. This way, no food is wasted, and more people benefit from it. I had to appoint someone within the village to make sure that this was carried out right.

“I made friends with this girl from the village, Shay, and she is very honest and just. So I made her my spokesperson in the village and granted her a position as a High Council member so that she could make sure that the condition I set was fulfilled.

“Oh! Before I forget, my village I protect is the village of Balmera. It is a very good village filled with awesome people!”

“So, if gods, guardians, age very, very slowly, then is this woman, Shay…does she also age slowly?” Lance was confused how everything worked, since the gods not aging fast would mean they would see each of their village’s generations pass away time and time again.

“Haha! No. Shay still ages the same. You see, the whole ‘too much food’ thing is actually fairly recent. I have gotten much better at controlling my powers, and as my powers get stronger, I can offer more to my people.

“When I realized that there was too much food, I was going to lessen the harvest in Balmera until we found a happy area where every mouth could be fed. But, when I visited my village to see the harvest in person, I happened to see some travelers that didn’t know who I was. They thought I was just wealthy and they were very desperate. They begged me to share any food that I could spare with them.

“I couldn’t just leave them like that. I asked them where they were from and they said a village not far from Balmera. They said that their village and the villages near them had gotten less and less prosperous with their harvests, and it was then that I realized my powers probably upset the balance of the plants growing through all the villages. So, to make up for it until I learn how to not completely take fertility away from the earth, only add to it, I made my village ally with the others and had everyone take care of each other.”

“That’s…really awesome. I wish my town had traded goods…” Lance sighed lightly, thinking back to his village and how there was just enough of anything there. Just enough food; just enough clothing; just enough to pull through. He had always wanted more but felt that wanting such a thing was selfish. After all, having more than enough was considered shameful in his town. If someone had more than _just enough_ , they should share it or give it to those that had _barely not enough_.

It didn’t stop Lance from wanting it though, even if he knew it was a shameful thing to want. “The smaller god you talked about, Pidge, what is she the god of?”

“Pidge is known as the Guardian of Technology. She has a longer name for it, but we just call her The Techie. Easier that way, for our sanity. Anyway, Pidge controls the advancement of technology and me and her are working together to try to get technology to work on living organisms. Mainly, plant life right now, but it is so cool!

“Her village, Olkarion, is based in a heavily forested area, so it is a perfect place to try out the new tech. Her people have learned to manipulate the technology Pidge gives them, too. They make it something entirely new. Pidge always gets excited about it, she is so proud of her village. She won’t willingly admit it though.

“Man, I wish you could have seen the Olkari when they receive the tech from Pidge! They spend hours learning how every piece functioned so they can then take it and make it bigger, or better. They are really the most amazing people you could ever meet.”

“Is her village isolated? If it is covered in forests, it would be, right?” Lance was trying to keep up with Hunk’s explanation of everything. It was very overwhelming and he wasn’t sure he would remember everything.

“Actually, her village is one of the allies of my village. Olkarion is on the outskirts of the area that my power affected, so it is still swimming in plant life, except for most food-type plants. So, the Olkari share their tech and inventions with all the other villages to make their lives better in return for receiving the food from mine. It is a great system, because everyone gets along nicely. A true symbiotic relationship, you could say.”

“Symbiotic?” Lance had never heard that term.

“Uh, I guess the best example would be where two things – people, animals, plants – live together and they benefit from each other. It is surviving by helping another survive, and they in turn help you. My metaphor wasn’t a perfect one, but that is the basic idea.”

Lance nodded, understanding the premise a little. _Symbiotic, an ideal relationship._ His thoughts wandered again to the mysterious god that he had seen so little of. He blushed as he remembered how _good_ Shiro had looked. He was ripped from head to toe, of that Lance was sure. And his _eyes…._

Lance was pulled from his thoughts as Hunk put another sheet of cookies in the oven. He motioned for Lance to come over and showed him how to take the cookies off the baking sheet and put them onto the cooling rack.

Hunk continued his explanations while Lance took care of the rest of the sheet.

“Allura is the Goddess of Regeneration. She was the very first one of us to bond with a Quintessence of Voltron. They hadn’t responded to anyone in many years, so we basically view her as royalty.”

“Oh, so that’s why I have heard her referred to as ‘princess’…” Lance mused.

“Haha. Exactly! She has the power to regenerate, or more simply, to heal. It really a nifty power, because if one of us has an accident during training, she can fix us up in a jiff. Pidge wants to try to get her tech to work with Allura’s powers so that we can heal multiple people at one time. She calls the idea ‘healing pods’ and says it would come in handy if the Galra ever come back to attack us.

“Of course, Allura doesn’t think the Galra would dare attack us directly but Pidge wants to be prepared.

“Coran is the Demi-god of Regeneration. His wording, of course. He basically keeps knowledge of us and our villages so that we can know the instant anything weird happens anywhere. I think he also looks after Allura, as well. When I realized that my power was taking from other villages, she had to go and stop it. She used her healing powers to essentially refertilize the damaged towns, though they haven’t been able to grow anything edible yet. Allura made sure that my powers would not absorb life anymore, and that put her body in a tough spot.

“We may be considered ‘gods’ but we still need to rest. We have to make sure not to overuse our powers, too. It took Allura a very long time to come back from that, and Coran is more protective of her now because of it.”

Lance figured that made sense. He had seen Coran basically dote on Allura in speaking to her. He had gathered that the two were connected, if not by blood, then by friendship.

“Keith is the God of Weaponry. He likes knives. And swords. Basically, pointy weapons. Fear him, Lance. He may seem like just a stubborn emo loner, but in reality, he is a stubborn emo loner… with SWORDS!!!!”

Hunk’s explanation of Keith made Lance crack up hard. Hunk soon joined, both men had tears in their eyes before long. It didn’t help that as soon as they had collected themselves, Keith walked in to get a snack. They ended up doubling over with laughter for another five minutes after Keith left them, quirking an eyebrow at them in question.

Regaining his composure, Lance asked, “what about Shiro? What is his story?”

Hunk looked at Lance for a moment, clearly debating something in his mind, before answering. “Shiro is the God of Storms. As you probably saw when you were transported here, he controls the elements of a storm: lightning, thunder, wind, clouds, you name it. He…he is pretty easy to get along with, but he doesn’t trust easily. It’s….complicated. But you are a good guy, I can tell. Shiro just needs time to get to know you. Trust me, he will come out of his shell eventually. He is definitely less stubborn than Keith, heh.” Hunk gave Lance a reassuring smile.

Lance returned the smile and thought of something. “What about water? There was a vortex of water that surrounded me to bring me to Altea. Does Shiro control water too?”

“Each one of us has an elemental ability as well. Mine is earth, specifically rock. Pidge is living earth, or plants and stuff. Keith is fire, stay away when he is angry, trust me. It’s scary. Shiro, well Shiro’s is weird. I guess he is technically sky and weather, but he works with the sea as well? Don’t tell him I said this, but he isn’t really good at his ocean powers…

“Oh! I forgot! Allura’s of course mainly healing but her element is technically spirit. Coran, since he is Altean also has minor spirit abilities.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! But, isn’t there still a Quintessence waiting to bond? That is the last that I had heard…” Lance wasn’t sure how accurate his information was, since he had heard that the Quintessence of Water was still unbonded.

“Well, yeah, technically. The Quintessence of Water. We aren’t sure what specific elemental powers it has, other than “water”, though. Like is it rain or lakes, or puddles...? The Quintessence knowledge is a bit vague on that….” Hunk shrugged, as if this was basic knowledge and not ancient magical power knowledge.

“Quintessence knowledge?” Lance twirled the spoon in his hands, long since having licked it cleaned.

Hunk went to set his spoon by the sink. “Quintessential Knowledge, actually. We have books written by the Alteans of the past who had been bonded to the Quintessence Spheres. But they weren’t the most descriptive of people, it seems. The books are all vague on the actual powers and skills that a guardian obtains when they bond with a Sphere.”

“Oh. That seems annoying.” Lance immediately regretted being so blunt, but Hunk had such an easy nature that it made Lance comfortable with his voiced thoughts.

Luckily, Hunk didn’t seem to mind as he laughed merrily. “Yeah, it really is. But it is also a bit exciting to learn new things about the powers that I have since I don’t know what will happen. You know what I mean? Oh, wait, no! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way because I know you don’t have powers but like I meant that maybe you understand because something similar might have happened to you…?” Hunk was rambling, and it always made Lance laugh when the god was caught off guard by his own words. He was really awkward about correcting what he thought was a mistake and, somehow, that make Lance feel more at ease.

“I think I understand. It is fun to go through an experience without knowing the outcome. That right?” Lance smiled, eyes dancing with humor.

Hunk seemed relieved and nodded. “Yeah, that is exactly it! Lance, you and I are gonna be best buds, man! You totally get me!”

Lance grinned as Hunk crushed him into a big bear hug and they laughed until the timer beeped, signaling that they need to put another batch of cookies into the oven.

 

__________________________________________

 

After baking six batches of cookies, two cakes, and a small crème brulee for each person, Hunk finally decided that they were done for the day.

He started washing the dishes while Lance put away the leftover ingredients. They managed to keep the kitchen fairly clean, for the most part. Hunk said as much to Lance and told him he was impressed the mess was minimal.

Lance had a blast baking and learning about each guardian. He hoped that he would come to know each one better in the future. Even Keith.

Lance thought about the hotheaded god as he put the container of sugar away. Spotting a bag of coffee beans, snorted with laughter. He turned as Hunk looked at him curiously and held up the bag of beans.

“Keith,” he said. Hunk raised an eyebrow at him in confusion. Lance grinned widely and said, “he’s bitter!” Lance was proud of his joke.

Hunk slapped a soapy hand to his face, groaning at the bad joke. “Good one, Lance…” he forced out. Lance’s smile grew even bigger, if that was possible.

Returning to the dishes, Hunk busied himself until he heard a loud _thump_ from behind him. He turned around to look at the source of the noise, and saw Lance with a terrified expression, staring at the floor. Looking down Hunk saw an entire bag of flour completely scattered over the floor, at least six feet in every direction from Lance, who was shaking by now.

Hunk felt bad for Lance, but he couldn’t help the holler of laughter that came out. He had known they had been to clean when cooking, it was only a matter of time, Hunk thought.

“Dude, it’s everywhere!” He was still laughing as he dried his hands and went to find a broom for the mess. He began to clean up the spilled flour when he felt something wet drop onto his head. He looked up to Lance, who was pale and crying.

“I-I’m _so_ sorry, Hunk…I didn’t mean to…”

Hunk frowned, confused by how upset Lance was.

“Dude, Lance, it’s fine. It’s ok.” He went to hug the boy and Lance took a step back, shaking his head, still looking at the floor.

“I’m sorry...I’m sorry…” He kept repeating, his shaking increasing.

Hunk grabbed probably a little too roughly and pulled him into a hug. “Hey, hush. None of that! It really is ok! I’m not mad, Lance.”

Lance hiccoughed. “But…the mess…” he whispered.

“So? We will clean it. No worries! Baking is always messy, man.”

Lance shook his head. “I messed up…I’m sorry…”

Hunk pulled Lance away and held his shoulders firmly. “Lance, stop apologizing. It was an accident, you didn’t do it on purpose! We will clean it up, and it’ll be fine! I promise!”

“But…The flour…I wasted it-“ Hunk cut him off.

“Dude, seriously. Do not even worry about that!” He pointed to himself. “God of bounty, remember? If I concentrate, I can easily replace the flour. Please, stop feeling guilty.”

Lance finally relaxed a bit and nodded slightly. He took the broom from where Hunk had set it and gave a weak smile. “We…clean it now, right?”

Hunk grinned. “Yup!” He fetched another broom and they made quick work of cleaning the floor of the white powder. After they put the broom away, they finished putting away the spices that were left and cleaned the other dishes, together.

Lance felt more cheerful by the time they were done. He was glad that Hunk didn’t hate him for his slip-up and began to wonder if this was how his mistakes would be treated from now on. He sincerely hoped so but was also afraid to wish for something that grand after he got to live here with these gods.

They went back to their rooms to change into clothes not covered in flour and dough. Lance picked out a sleeveless blue tunic. The front stopped at his waist, but the back continued to his knees in a beautiful curve. It had gold buttons along the front, that glittered in the falling sun coming through the window. He put on white trousers with gold slip-on shoes to match. He was astonished with the quality of the clothes. Everything was soft and radiant.

He found Hunk and they went to the dining hall together, chatting idly about different recipes for cookies that Hunk wanted to try out. Lance was practically drooling by the time they sat down for dinner. Coran informed them that Alfor had cooked again, since he and Allura were busy discussing upgrades to the castle with Pidge.

Looking around the table, Lance realized that Shiro wasn’t there, again. Was he ok?

Lance didn’t have to wait for his answer because as soon as the food magically appeared on the table, Shiro walked through the door, looking at ease if not a little stern.

The room was immediately silent, as Shiro took his seat and began to dish himself dinner.

“Princess, could you pass the potatoes?” Shiro’s question brought everyone out of their shock, and they all began to talk quietly and eat.

Lance mostly spoke with Pidge and Hunk, glancing occasionally at Shiro across the table. Shiro never looked his way once, and Lance had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t explain.

Once dinner was finished, Allura got a glint in her eyes that could only be considered as devious. She looked at Hunk, smiling brightly.

“Hunk, didn’t you spend all day baking? Why don’t we see the fruits of your labor?”

Hunk immediately got excited. “OH! Yeah! I’ll be right back!”

“Oh my god! Hunk’s desserts are always amazing!” Pidge gushed, her mouth watering.

Lance felt a small blush rise to his cheeks, knowing that he had a hand in helping make the desserts. He really hoped they turned out well, but Hunk said they did, so that is good right?

Hunk came back in with a large tray of cookies and a tray bearing the crème brulee they had made. He passed the treats around to everyone, and Lance dug into the crème brulee first. He had never had it before, but it was _good._ He was glad and happy as he ate his treat.

“Hunk, these are amazing!” Shiro complimented between bites of cookie.

Hunk blushed, smiling. “Well, I can’t take all the credit. Lance here helped me make everything!” He patted the smaller boy on the back, grinning when Lance’s face went completely red in embarrassment.

Shiro just nodded, averting his eyes to a wall. Lance wilted a little and nibbled at a cookie Hunk had given him. Hunk frowned and glanced at Allura in slight panic.

“Well, I am so glad that you were able to help make them, Lance! Everything is so delicious! Thank you for going to the trouble of making them!” Allura said, while looking directly at Lance.

“Ah…it was no trouble at all, Princess,” Lance assured her, smiling softly.

After a while of snacking on the rest of the cookies, people began retreating to their rooms for the night. Soon it was only Hunk, Lance, and Allura left.

Lance got up to go to bed, wishing Hunk and Allura goodnight as he left the dining hall. He made his way leisurely back to his room, a bit more confident on the way to get there now.

The way back to the rooms was quiet and calm, so it was really no surprise that voices, albeit hushed, could be heard a fair distance away.

He walked towards them and saw that Keith’s door was open. Keith was talking with someone. Lance heard a deep voice reply to Keith’s voice and recognized it as Shiro.

Lance frowned. They sounded a little angry. Was everything ok? Realizing that it was none of his business, Lance opened his door and was about to close it when he heard his name.

“I don’t want him here, Keith! The last time we let someone in who wasn’t a guardian…”

“I _know_ what happened, Shiro. I was there. I saw everything.”

“Then you know why I am against Lance being here. Allura had _no right-“_

“Shiro, she is the _Princess_. She had _every right._ Besides, it’s not like I want him here either. But that isn’t our choice or place, Shiro. You know that.”

“It doesn’t make it right. Allura _knows_ how I feel about outsiders…This one is even from my own village! I don’t like it.”

“I know, Shiro. I know. Just, maybe stay away from him?”

“…he was wearing my colors, Keith…”

“Yeah...I know…”

The conversation stopped there, and Lance was horrified by it all. Not only had he eavesdropped on _gods_ , but Shiro without a doubt didn’t want him here.

He was upset that Lance had worn his colors, and he recalled Hunk telling him not to choose those colors for his clothes. What did that mean? Did the colors they chose signify more than just clothing?

Lance gently put his hand on the door pad and closed it, hiding himself within his room.

Both Keith and Shiro did not like him, and could Lance blame them? No. He knew how much of a screw-up he had been in the past, perhaps they could see it in him with just a glance.

As Lance went to bed that evening, he knew one thing for sure:

_Do not go near Shiro. Ever._

 

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! My cat is going to have surgery this week, so I do not know when I'll be able to update again. Sorry for not being consistent. Please leave comments, kudos, and requests if you have them.  
> Hope everyone liked the Punk in this chapter because I had fun writing it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance bonds with Pidge, and other adventures?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I know, I know! I took forever to update. For all who read my notes, my cat is now a tripawed cat and he is doing perfectly dandy! He healed well and is getting use to balancing again. He walks just fine but sometimes his butt decides it wants to make him do a hand stand. Work in progress, like this story! Anyway, this chapter is my longest chapter yet, so you weren't waiting in vain! Enjoy!

Lance had slept a bit uneasily, thoughts of Keith and Shiro despising him kept waking him up. He was certain that the two gods wanted him gone, having overheard them say as much. He would be inclined to leave and appease them had the castle not been the best part of his life thus far. He was far too happy to be willing to leave this sanctuary of sorts, knowing that he was being selfish. But had he not earned it? This one selfish thing?

As the morning quickly approached, Lance eventually gave up on sleep and decided to play with the clothing synthesizer, making far more jewelry than was probably necessary. But it distracted him from the sadness that wanted to push itself into the front of his mind. He wanted to avoid all thoughts of the two powerful beings, and ended up making four more outfits, each with color, material, trims, and accessories customized to match.

When the barest hint of the sun filtered through the window, Lance picked out an outfit and took a shower. He found that the shower was modified as well, and he spent well over an hour picking soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and exfoliators to use. He had Alfor explain what each item was used for and proceeded to clean himself. Lance found the AI to be very helpful in the absence of the other gods.

He exited the shower and dressed into his readied outfit, soft blue pants that blouson at the bottom and a white and blue sleeveless crop. He slid on a pair of blue and gold sandals and headed down to breakfast. He was a bit early, but figured that even if he was alone, it was fine. He had many things to think about, after all.

Lance was not surprised to find the dining room empty and decided to wait in the greeting hall. There were many windows in the hall, and Lance sat on a cushioned window seat to look out at the field he had seen for the first time only a few days ago. Had it really only been a few days? It felt like much longer now.

Lance had never expected that he would be a mere worker in the castle. He figured that he would be working for the gods, but he had envisioned less comfort. Less luxury for himself. That was what he was used to, the bare minimum to survive. However, what he had gotten was just…so much _more_. He was truly grateful.

Distantly, Lance heard the sounds of the castle’s other residents starting to wake and bustle around. It was getting closer to breakfast.

Lance’s heartbeat picked up, anxious. Would Shiro come to breakfast? Would he ignore Lance again?

His nerves were on edge again and did not calm down even when Hunk and Pidge had found him and started talking to him. Well, Hunk started talking. The man was an endless ball of energy. Pidge on the other hand, was dead to the world, only barely awake enough to maneuver about the halls (albeit with some guidance from Hunk). Lance smiled at the two guardians, a bubble of joy going through him at the heartwarming pair.

They headed slowly to the dining room, deciding that Pidge would be better falling back asleep sitting down instead of standing. Hunk and Lance chatted about the clothes Lance had made and Hunk told him more about the other tech areas.

One was in the kitchen, where Lance could have Alfor make him practically anything to eat or drink. It was all standard quality, but still quite delicious. Probably better than anything Lance could make on his own. He marveled at the fact that the machine could make such intricate food.

“Better than Keith can do, that’s for sure,” Hunk commented, chuckling a bit. “Before Pidge got the updated system in place, Keith tried to make a shrimp fried rice, which is decently simple to make. He burned everything Lance. Literally, _everything._ He even singed his bangs, which was pretty impressive actually. He was sooooo angry about it too.”

“I wasn’t _that_ angry,” came a sleepy grumble from the doorway. Keith strode in, sleep still heavy in his eyes, and plopped down next to Lance.

Lance almost squeaked with shock, just barely managing to only jolt slightly in his seat. Didn’t Keith hate him? Why was he sitting next to Lance? Did he think Lance was someone else?

“Alfor,” Keith said a bit louder. “Coffee, dark.”

Immediately, there was a flash of light at the table and a mug and pitcher appeared before Keith, both full of the dark liquid. Lance didn’t know if he would ever get over the fact that things seemed to magically appear at the table.

“Did…did Alfor make the coffee _that_ quickly…?” Lance was under the impression that food still had to be _made_ by the sentient castle robot.

“Keith always has coffee in the morning, so I programmed Alfor to make it every morning to be ready for him. Cranky Keith is not a nice person.” Pidge had her head on the table, eyes closed while speaking barely over a mumble. “Alfor, coffee…”

A mug of coffee appeared before the small guardian and she immediately started drinking it. Lance mused that Keith and Pidge had similar habits, and wondered if they formed them before they were gods, or after.

Lance was curious if he could ask for anything from Alfor, having always had eaten whatever food appeared before him rather than requesting it.

“Hunk, could we…could I ask Alfor to make me anything for breakfast? Not that I don’t want whatever he made…I was mostly curious…” Lance rambled, trying not to seem like he wanted to thwart all the prepared breakfast plans.

Keith groaned from his seat. “Lance, if you want something, just ask. No one cares if you want something different than the scheduled meal. Stop being so loud…it’s too early…” Keith downed the rest of his coffee and filled his mug from the pitcher.

Lance sputtered a bit, a small blush of embarrassment creeping across his face. He didn’t expect Keith to talk to him, let alone attempt to quell Lance’s fears of being considered ungrateful or rude. Did he mean to be comforting? Or was Lance really too loud?

Lance ordered a mild blend of coffee along with scrambled eggs, toast, a bagel, hash browns, and pancakes. He was really hungry and wanted to eat until he passed out. He felt only mildly guilty for ordering so much food.

Allura, Coran, and Shiro arrive just as the table was filled with food. Everyone silently dug into their food, relishing the morning quiet that was disturbed by sounds of eating.

As each person filled themselves, talk reemerged across the room. Allura was discussing defensive tactics with Coran and Shiro. Lance talked mostly with Pidge and Hunk, only speaking to Keith when the god deigned to pipe into the conversation. Lance couldn’t help himself from stealing glances at the god of storms, wishing he could make himself more tolerable to the man. He did not like when there was a person who disliked him so blatantly.

Pidge eventually caught Lance’s attention and they discussed how Lance was to help her that day with her tech room. Apparently, Pidge had made quite a mess with her last experiment. She needed Lance to clean her equipment, put it away, clean the room. Essentially, the entire room was pitiful and Lance needed to play maid. He didn’t mind though, he liked helping others.

It was towards the end of their conversation, when Lance finally polished off the last of his pancakes, that the thin man sensed someone was watching him. He instinctively looked at Hunk, but he and Pidge were deep in conversation. He looked over to Shiro, who was still talking to Allura and Coran. That meant…

Lance looked next to him towards Keith and was pinned down by his intense gaze. Lance found that he couldn’t look away, returning the stare with a surprised expression. After a few moments, Keith averted his eyes and stood, heading out of the dining room.

 _What was that…?_ Lance wondered what had gotten into the fire god.

Lance did not have time to think too much on it, however, for in the next moment, Pidge had whisked him out of his seat and out of the room.

They got to the tech room after many twists and turns. Lance was certain that he would be completely lost if he had to find his way back alone.

As they entered the room, various smells reached Lance’s nose and made him cringe. _What the hell was that?_ Lance wondered if Pidge had left a carton of milk out to spoil but found out he probably didn’t want to know.

“This is my tech room. It is pretty messy, as you can see. I told you everything over breakfast, so I guess get to it? If you have any questions, just ask. I’ll be over in the next room working on the power converters for the castle.” She had pointed to an adjoining room and then made her way over to it.

Lance was left in a dark, foul smelling room. _Right. Cleaning and organizing._ He went over to the windows that were covered with black out curtains and pulled them open, letting the sun pour into the room. Now able to see, Lance could make out several heaps of food-like lumps in the corners of the room. He shuddered in disgust. That needed to be task number one!

After rummaging through the cabinets, Lance found an unused box of trash bags. They were about to be put to good use. Lance stuffed 3 bags full of food and trash that he saw. There was probably more but this was definitely a start.

He set the bags just outside the room and opened the windows to get airflow started and rid the room of the odor. Now it was time to pick up the tech pieces strewn everywhere. Lance saw that Pidge had a massive wall of supplies. Nothing was labeled, either.

 _Aye dios mio._ This was going to be a long day, for sure.

Lance started by grouping all of the tools and tool-like objects. He set those in their groups along the 3 long work benches. Next, he picked up the spare parts and grouped those as well. There were far more parts than tools, so Lance lined the parts up along the two longest walls.

He pulled bin after bin off of the supply wall to see what was in each one. To his dismay, there were some that were mixed or miscellaneous. Probably over seventy percent of the bins were mixed, actually.

Lance shook his head. He took one of the miscellaneous bins and dumped it onto an empty part of the floor. He then filled the bin with one of the grouped items along the wall and began sorting through the items now cluttering the floor.

Several hours later, Lance had gone through every mystery bin and organized each item into its respective group. To make things easier to find (and put away later), Lance glued a sample of each spare part to the front of its bin so that Pidge would be able to look and find exactly what she needed very quickly.

With the tech supplies finally organized, and labeled, Lance looked around for some cleaning supplies he could use. Finding none, he went into the room Pidge mentioned earlier to ask her where he could get some. He really wanted to clean the floor and the windows were looking a bit dusty too.

“Hey Pidge? Do you have cleaning supplies anywhere? Like to wash the floors, tables, and windows?” The room was as dark as the previous one had been, and Lance’s eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dim lighting yet.

“Pidge isn’t here,” came a deep voice. Lance’s body froze. That was Shiro’s voice. A feeling of dread crept into Lance, and it took a moment for him to speak again.

“O-oh! Well, um, do you know where I can find cleaning supplies? I would like to clean the floors. They still hold the smell of the rotted food…” He trailed off, realizing that he was rambling. Had there been enough light, he was sure Shiro would be able to see his face turn red in embarrassment.

He heard Shiro sigh lightly, and Lance’s body tensed more at the sound. He didn’t want to cause any trouble for the god.

“There are some things over here in this drawer. If you need anything more, let me know.” Shiro had opened a cupboard that Lance could barely see now that his eyes had somewhat adjusted.

Lance collected the things he believed he would need before heading back to the other room, hoping that he was just being paranoid when he thought he felt eyes on his back.

After returning to the tech room, Lance made pretty quick work of the cleaning. He was just about done when Pidge had returned to check on him.

“Hey Lance, Shiro told me that you came looking for me. Sorry about that, I had found something cool and I just _had_ to show Hunk because we had _just_ been discussing it a few days ago and –“ Her voice suddenly stopped and Lance turned to look at her.

Pidge was standing with her mouth wide open, gaping at the now organized wall of spare parts. She gazed from bin to bin, clearly shocked by it all

Lance swelled with a small amount of pride at his work. He was very happy with how it all turned out. He even impressed himself with the labeling idea he came up with as soon as he had found the glue.

“Lance…this is incredible! It has never been _this_ clean and organized before! Stay here! I have _so_ gotta show this to Hunk!” She practically sprinted from the room, yelling Hunk’s name down the hall. Lance chuckled and turn to review the wall again. He smiled widely at it. He had thought of the smallest details to make the whole area better. This included putting all of the spare parts into order from smallest parts to largest parts.

“Wow. I don’t think I have ever seen Pidge’s work room be so clean. Or light.” Lance swallowed, turning to face the tall, muscular god that had wandered into the room. Shiro was very quiet when he wanted to be.

“Uh yeah. I guess it was a bit of a mess before, huh?” Lance was nervous, and he looked at the floor to avoid the stormy stare of the attractive guardian.

Shiro chuckled lightly. “That is an understatement, Lance. But it looks like you’ve done an amazing job with it.” His smile to Lance was small, but present. “And from what it sounded like, Pidge is very pleased with it herself.”

Lance’s brain had short-circuited. Had Shiro really complimented him? He wasn’t angry with him? He… _laughed?_ He had no idea what to say to the man that had turned away to examine the wall of parts.

Being unable to speak, Lance instead stared at the god’s back, his tunic doing nothing to hide the muscles in his back. Lance followed the line of Shiro’s shoulder blades to his waist, eyes averting suddenly as they skimmed lower. Lance turned away from Shiro towards the window as a blush colored his face. What was he doing? Shiro barely tolerated his presence and he was freely looking at his…assets?

He shook his head trying to clear it and took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Is everything alright, Lance?” Shiro’s voice had a tinge of worry to it.

“I…no…I mean yes…I mean…” Lance stuttered out, trying to explain his shock over Shiro’s change of attitude towards him. “D-don’t you…hate me? I know I’m not good at a lot of things, so I understand if –“

Shiro interrupted his self-deprecation. “I don’t hate you, Lance.”

Lance looked at him, confused. “But…you don’t want me here. You wouldn’t even look at me…”

Shiro’s face showed the shock he felt at Lance’s words. He was quiet a moment, gathering his thoughts before he spoke. “I don’t hate you, but it is true that I don’t…didn’t want you to stay. But that has nothing to do with _you_ personally. It’s…complicated. And personal. I am sorry that I made you think I hated you, but that isn’t the case, I promise. As for not looking at you, I was generally just angry that Allura went against my word. I was angry at her and it seems that I had unknowingly took that out on you. For that, I am sorry.”

Lance was speechless. Shiro didn’t hate him. So maybe…maybe Lance _did_ fit in here? Lance bit his lip as feelings of relief washed over him.

“Ah! L-lance! Are you ok? Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?” Shiro’s panicked voice reached Lance and he looked up to realize Shiro’s form was blurred from the tears that gathered in Lance’s eyes.

“…I-I’m crying…?” Lance’s voice cracked with emotion. “I didn’t know…I-I’m just so… _relieved_ …” As he spoke the last word, the tears he hadn’t known he was holding back flowed freely. He dropped to his knees, shaking with each sob.

Immediately, Shiro was at his side comforting him. “It’s ok, Lance. It’s ok.” He repeated these words as he gave Lance a one-armed hug, he was a bit unsure of where they stood on hugging at the moment and didn’t want Lance to feel uncomfortable.

Lance, however, didn’t register Shiro’s hesitancy, and in the next moment he had crushed Shiro in a tight hug, his face buried into the taller man’s chest.

Shiro was briefly glad that Lance could not see the red color on his ears and cheeks and with nothing else to do, he wrapped his arms around the smaller man, holding him close as he continued to cry.

After a few minutes, Lance released Shiro in favor of wiping away the tracks of tears on his face.

“Sorry about that,” Lance said, avoiding eye contact. “I didn’t know that I would cry.”

“Think nothing of it. I’m glad I could help.” Lance looked up as Shiro smiled and found himself trapped in the storm of his eyes.

Unable to look away, Lance felt himself give a weak smile in return. They sat like that for a moment, until they heard Pidge coming back with Hunk.

Lance broke away from Shiro’s gaze and turned his back to the door the other two would soon come through, a blush making its way up his neck and face.

Shiro excused himself back to the other room where the darkness could hide his own red face.

A few moments later, Pidge burst through the door, towing a flabbergasted Hunk.

“Look! Look at it, Hunk!!! Look how beautiful my wall is!” Pidge was glowing with happiness.

“Wow! You weren’t kidding! Lance, you did all this?” Hunk was looking over the room in wonder.

“Ah…y-yeah. I did,” Lance managed to stutter out, attempting to hide his face, still a bit red from crying. “Do you like it?”

“Like it? Man, it’s…” Hunk turned towards Lance, finally looking him over and noticing his red eyes. “Hey, Lance, have you been crying? Are you ok?”

Both he and Pidge were now looking at Lance, faces filled with concern.

“Huh? Oh…yeah it’s…the dust made my eyes water a bit while I was cleaning…” Lance hoped his lie was good enough for the pair, not really wanting to tell them he bawled his eyes out because Shiro does, in fact, not hate him. He felt foolish for his emotions taking over as they had. He also felt guilty for lying to his new friends. They had both been nothing but nice to him and he had just lied to their faces. Was he a bad friend?

If they suspected Lance of lying, they said nothing, only nodding slightly at his response and going back to ogling his hard work. Pidge went about showing Hunk how all of her supplies were labeled and even situated from smallest object to largest, making finding anything a lot easier.

Lance just stood by the window, collecting himself and trying his best to beat down his guilt. He was glad they liked the room, having spent a lot of time making sure it was clean and tidy. Time; he wondered how long it had been since he started cleaning. No one had gotten him for lunch, so he supposed it was still early.

Lance frowned. _That can’t be right._ He was certain he had spent most of the day cleaning up, so it should have been near dinner by now. He looked out the window to the horizon and saw that the sun had barely moved since he had started.

“What time is it? I am certain it should be way past lunch…” Lance had absently spoken out loud.

“Huh? Oh, no its…time works differently here, Lance. The minutes and hours that you are used to do not exist in the same way here on Altea. The days are a bit longer here. It’s just about time for lunch.” Hunk watched Lance as he stared outside, and decided to add, “The sun here doesn’t move the same way, either. It seems early because of the sun, but it’s really closer to what you would consider ‘noon’.”

Lance was amazed by this revelation, but he really should not have been surprised. He had felt that the days were longer from the beginning, but only thought of it as his mind playing tricks on him. Looking back over the past few days, he realized that Hunk was right. The days here were longer.

Lance wondered if that meant years were different as well. If days here were longer, then so were weeks, months, and years. How do they keep track of the days so that they visit their villages each year in village time? Perhaps Pidge had come up with a clock system that let them record the time difference. Lance had no doubt that she was capable of such a feat given all that she had done so far for the castle.

The rest of the day had passed pretty much uneventfully. Lance was covered in sweat and dust, so he opted for a long shower to clean himself up. He had gotten dressed in white trousers and a blue sleeveless tunic and sat on his bed to stare out the window for a few minutes. He had intended to go find Hunk to talk with the man some more, but the physical effort of the morning caught up to him and he fell asleep on his bed instead.

Lance woke up to Hunk shaking his shoulder slightly. “Hey man. You skipped lunch, you plan on eating dinner?” He had a broad smile on his face as he looked at the smaller man.

“Oh, I guess so. I don’t remember falling asleep…” Hunk chuckled at that and assured Lance that it was quite alright. They made their way down the hall for dinner, talking about the various ways Lance liked to organize things, something that Hunk found fascinating to Lance’s surprise.

Dinner passed with cheerful chatter from all parties, and Shiro even made eye contact with Lance more than once. It was progress, and Lance was more than grateful to have another blooming friendship amongst the gods.

 

__________________________________________

 

The next morning at breakfast, Keith mentioned to Lance that his bedroom was in need of a good clean. Apparently, Pidge had bragged to each person in the castle about the wonders he did on her tech room, and Keith wanted to enlist Lance for the same purpose. Lance of course agreed right away, as perhaps this would give him time to become friendlier with the grumpy god.

After breakfast him and Keith made their way to grab cleaning supplies that Lance would need and headed to Keith’s room. Upon entering the common room, Lance was immediately thrown off.

A mess of clothes, food scraps, workout equipment, and books were scattered _everywhere._ There was almost no room to walk, and it stunk of sweat and old socks. Lance wrinkled his nose as they set the equipment on a nearby table. Keith showed him to the bedroom, which was unbelievably worse than the previous room. The only room that wasn’t cluttered was the bathroom, having only a comb, toothpaste, deodorant, and a toothbrush on the counter. The bathroom still needed a good scrubbing, but it was by far the cleanest area of Keith’s quarters.

“How are you able to live in such a state?” Lance was shocked at the sheer severity of it.

“I don’t know, I just don’t like to clean. I am busy with more important things, like training.” Keith sounded defensive and had crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you saying you don’t want to help?”

“What? No! I’m just a little…shocked by all this, I guess. But it won’t be like this for long, not with me around!” He wanted to assure the god that he could handle this, even if that meant working until he passed out. He wanted to get on Keith’s good side, now that he and Shiro were on decent terms.

Keith nodded. “Well, where do we start?”

Lance was taken aback. He had assumed that Keith would just busy himself with whatever while he cleaned the rooms himself. After a second, he recovered, and told Keith to pick up all of his clothing and set it to be washed. Lance’s rule was such that if it was on the floor, it was to be flagged as dirty.

With Keith set to that task, Lance got started cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom. He had cleaned the mirrors and countertop by the time Keith walked in, having finished his task.

“When was the last time you sent your sheets to be washed?”

“Um, I don’t remember?” Keith quirked an eyebrow at him, and Lance gave him a flat look until he left with an irritated sigh to strip his bed of all linens.

With the toilet and shower scrubbed, Lance quickly swept the tiled floor before getting ready to mop it.

He saw Keith approach him and asked why stripping his bed had taken so long.

“I made the bed with new sheets, I figured that was the next step.”

“Keith, you didn’t have to! I would have made-“

“I know how to make a bed, Lance. Besides, you were busy cleaning the bathroom.” He sounded a bit irritated, but Lance could suddenly see beyond that. Was Keith thinking that he was burdening Lance with this task? Could he really feel guilty and want to help in order to appease that guilt? He seemed to be hiding a lot under his tough attitude.

“Ok. Well, maybe throw away all the trash next, then.” Lance gave the god a reassuring smile and received and nod in return.

With the bathroom mopped, Lance opened the windows to let in fresh air, and took to dusting around the bedroom before moving onto the common room. The two worked this way for hours, mostly silent with Lance humming quietly to himself at times.

The rooms pulled together quite nicely, and Lance was proud of the work they had done as they flopped into chairs in the common room. Finally taking a break, Lance’s stomach rumbled in hunger.

“Hey, Keith? Do you think it’s close to lunch time yet?” Lance had his eyes closed and head tilted to rest on the back of the plush chair.

“What? Lance, it’s almost dinner.” Lance could _feel_ the eye roll in his words. Had they really gone all day without stopping?

“Keith, don’t get mad but you should learn to clean up after yourself a little better. How did you live like that?”

“I keep trying to get him to clean, but he absolutely hates the chore. I’m surprised you were able to get him to help you.” Shiro’s deep voice rang through the main door to Keith’s quarters. Lance was barely able to keep from jumping with alarm. He hadn’t realized the other man had been standing in the doorway.

“Shiro, I do _not_ hate cleaning. I just have more important ways to spend my time and I am usually too tired to bother with it. How long have you been standing there?” Keith’s voice was defensive, edged with the weariness he felt.

“Long enough, Keith. It’s time for dinner, go get washed up. You too Lance. Can’t have you both smelling like sweaty socks through dinner.”

Lance got up from his seat and walked towards his own room for a quick shower, the promise of food giving him more energy than he thought he even had.

After a brief shower, Lance put on jeans and a nice long-sleeve tunic. He practically threw the door to his quarters open and ran through so fast he didn’t notice the person standing in front of his door, about to knock. That is, until he fully collided with said person and fell face first onto the floor.

Except that Lance knew the floor wasn’t that soft. He came face to face with Shiro, whom he had knocked over in his haste to get to dinner. Knocked over and fell onto, that is.

Lance stared speechless at Shiro, unable to process that he should probably move as his body was fully against Shiro’s own. But he just stared at him, and saw with some shock that he was staring back. The two lay there together, unmoving as they examined the depths of each other’s eyes.

Lance came to a few realizations. The first, that Shiro was all muscle, yet comfortable to lay on. The second, that Shiro was warm save for the cool metal of his prosthetic that was holding Lance’s waist firmly. The final, that Shiro’s lips looked very, very nice, making Lance want to press them against his own. He was about to lean in closer if the sound of Shiro’s voice hadn’t stopped him.

“Lance…?” A voice filled with question. How would he respond?

Luckily for Lance, his body made that decision for him as his face flushed a violent red. He began to struggle to get off of the god as quickly as he could, berating himself for getting caught up is his foolish thoughts.

“S-sorry!” The mumbled word the only thing Lance was able to say to Shiro.

Shiro was able to collect himself much quicker than Lance, and helped get them both to their feet. “It’s alright. No harm done. Just be more careful next time, ok?” His tone was even, not giving away any hint of returning the embarrassment that Lance felt.

“Yeah…” Lance did not make eye contact with the man, feeling the heat from his face roll off of him in waves.

After a moment of collecting themselves, Shiro said, “Dinner?” and they walked to the dining hall. The walk gave Lance some time to cool off and stamp down his feelings for now and when they made it to the hall, he was able to fall back into an easy chatter with Pidge and Hunk.

Dinner was abuzz with talk of the Guardian ceremony. Six candidates had been chosen to address the quintessence of water in hopes of being able to bond with it and become a guardian god.

Allura was excited for the chance to train the new guardian to use their powers and, eventually, train all of them to be able to use the Spell of Voltron. “It will be very useful should the Galra and Zarkon decide to attack the castle directly,” she said, eyes alight at the prospect of neutralizing the Galra and bringing about peace.

The excitement was infectious, and Lance soon found himself bubbling with energy amongst the guardians. He really wanted to see the ceremony and wondered if he would be allowed to go. He wasn’t a guardian, so there wasn’t really a _reason_ for him to go, but he couldn’t help hoping that maybe by some miracle the gods would allow him to tag along.

His miracle was tall muscular and very attractive, for when he asked the others if he could join them the next day, Shiro replied “Of course, Lance,” without hesitation. The others seemed surprised, but they all agreed with him easily. After that, the conversation turned to light chatter about the castle.

Hunk started telling Lance about the other rooms in the castle. “So, there is like, this huge garden. It’s indoors too, which is cool! It is so pretty and smells so fresh, you should totally visit it sometime. It is very relaxing to take a walk through the plants and flowers.” Lance was hooked on the idea, leaning closer to Hunk as he described several routes through the roses. Even Shiro gave his praise of the garden to Lance, which made him even more eager to visit the magical place.

Sirens suddenly started blaring loudly in the castle. Immediately, everyone became alert. Shiro stood and began to give commands to the other gods.

“Hunk, Pidge. Go see if you can give us an analysis of what we are dealing with. Allura, start a lockdown on the castle. Keith, you’re with me at the front gate. No one gets past us, understand?” A nod confirmed that Keith knew his roll. “Good. Everyone, dress into battle attire and grab your weapons!”

As everyone rushed off to fulfill their given tasks, Lance was left at the table alone. Getting too anxious for his own good, Lance set out towards the tech room and was met with Pidge and Hunk running between the adjoining rooms frantically. Lance saw Hunk taking various notes, turning several dials, and hitting a few buttons while Pidge was furiously typing away at her keyboard.

Lance wanted to he helpful, but he wasn’t trained for this sort of thing. He decided that staying in a far corner of the room was the best idea, setting himself out of the way of foot traffic.

Within minutes, Hunk and Pidge had been able to find what set off the alarms.

“It’s the Galra. They are attacking a village in the north. We need to tell Shiro!” Hunk grabbed a handful of papers, and turned to Pidge. “Let’s go!” And they were off, Lance left alone once more.

As he looked upon the many screens in the adjoining room he hadn’t spent much time in, he wished that he could understand what they signified. The numbers, the strange lettering, all of it was foreign to Lance. He kept staring at the screens as if that would make him suddenly understand.

He left the room and made his way to the greeting hall, where all of the gods had gathered to discuss their plans. After Hunk and Pidge gave the results of their data, Shiro formed a plan and they all left to address the Galra threat.

Lance sat in the greeting hall, nervously bouncing his leg as he waited for everyone to come back. He was eager to find out how they handled the attack. What if someone got hurt? But Lance reasoned that Allura could just heal them. What if Allura got hurt? Did her powers work on herself?

Beside himself with worry, Lance couldn’t help the visions of his comrades bloodied and bruised. He could not bear to imagine Hunk or Pidge hurt. Or Shiro. He wouldn’t get hurt badly, right? He was so strong and intimidating, the very essence of a true leader.

The hours passed slowly, eating away at Lance’s anxieties. He wanted to know his friends were ok, that they weren’t hurt.

Four hours had passed before the group came back, every face fixed with irritation.

Lance decided to try his luck, wanting to know the details of the situation. “Is…is everything ok? Did you defeat the Galra?”

Nearly every person’s frown grew at this words, yet Shiro was the only on to speak. “It was a false alarm. It seems that the Galra wanted to set us off to annoy us. As soon as we got to the village, every trace of Galra had vanished. Though, a few townspeople we talked to were certain they had been in the town. I do not know what reason they have for annoying us, but for now, we are all safe. There is no danger and no one was hurt. I suppose we should be thankful for that.

With tiredness and an air of disappointment, the group retreated to their beds for the night.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance woke up early, excited to be able to witness the Guardian Candidate ceremony. He had always wished to see it, and today he was going to fulfill that wish! He spent a good hour choosing an outfit to wear to the ceremony. He wanted to look nice since the gods will be in their formal guardian apparel. He wanted to look like he belonged with them, not as a god, but as a friend.

Lance finally settled on a lovely dark blue sleeveless tunic that hugged his waist with a tail that stopped at his ankles. The tunic had two gold buttons near the collar with a chain connecting them. There were two pockets that had gold embroidery along the single welts. The tail was decorated with the same embroidery along the edge.

He had sky blue pants that hid in knee-high boots that were the same blue as his tunic. He had gold gauntlets on his wrists and matching gold bands on his biceps. He turned to look at himself in the mirror and decided to add a light coat of blue shimmer eyeshadow and mascara to make his eyes stand out even more.

Satisfied with his appearance, Lance went to wait for the others in the greeting hall. It wasn’t long before the others showed up. As he suspected, each god wore formal attire representative of their chosen colors and powers. Lance was very glad he decided to dress up for the occasion.

They all clamored out of the castle with Allura and Coran in the lead. They didn’t go towards the front gate, however. Allura had them turning to an outside portion of the castle he hadn’t noticed before.

 _Guess I still have some exploring to do,_ Lance thought with interest.

They approached a wall that Lance knew must open, for Hunk had showed him a passage like that on the way to the dining hall one night. He waited patiently as Allura tapped the wall and a scanner pad appeared. She placed her hand upon the pad and after a few seconds, the door in the wall opened to reveal a very strange looking machine.

It was like a topless carriage you would ride on sunny days, but something was attached to the side. Lance didn’t get a chance to question it as he was ushered into the carriage by Pidge, who sat next to him. Hunk was on his other side with Allura next to Pidge. Shiro, Keith, and Coran sat opposite of them, sitting backwards to face them.

Pidge was bubbling with excitement for a reason unbeknownst to Lance, and quickly tapped a few paneled buttons on the door next to Allura. Immediately the carriage whirred to life, as if it could move on its own. Lance realized it probably did, if Pidge had helped make the carriage. He was already enamored with it as it rolled out of the room. Pidge tapped another button and the door in the wall closed after them.

The carriage started picking up speed as it raced across the pathway towards the gates. Lance only realized too late that the gates were closed, momentary panic setting in, when all of a sudden the carriage gave a violent jolt and the gates dropped out of his view.

Confusion worked its way across his features as he tried to find where the gates had gone. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the gates as they started disappearing from his view, the carriage getting further from him.

Beneath him. The gates were under them.

Lance looked around Hunk to see the things that were attached to the side of the carriage had been brought out into view.

_Wings._

“W-we’re _flying?!_ ” Lance’s exclamation had every single pair of eyes trained to his face. Apparently, everyone except Pidge had failed to remember that Lance hadn’t flown in Pidge and Hunk’s creation. The “aer-iage”, as Pidge like to call it. She had made sure to see his reaction and file it in her memory.

“We’re flying,” Lance said, this time with awe and a newfound respect for his two genius friends. A smile crept out as he switched spots with Hunk to watch the scenery below as it passed. The small smile was soon a huge grin of true delight, as Lance saw a river that lead to a lake. They soon left the lake behind as they headed into a mountainous area, a chill spreading through them at the frigid air.

To Lance’s appreciation, they left the mountains quickly and were soon back to flying through the air with the sun beaming down on them. Lance was smiling the whole ride to Arus.

The city was packed into a small corner, where a large platform of made of dark granite stood. The carriage set down in an open field just beyond the platform, and everyone exited to walk to the platform. The gods filed onto the stage, and Lance followed, unsure of his place amongst them. He wasn’t corrected.

Allura walked forwards to address the population. “My dear citizens! I realize you all have been waiting for this exciting and blessed event, so I will be brief. I thank you all for choosing amongst your own and your allies the candidates that are present with us today,” she gestured towards a line of people off to the side of the platform. “I am grateful to have this opportunity to see whom among these six people can bond with the Quintessence of Water. Water is a fickle thing, changing its course easily at any sign of trouble. It will take someone with great determination to wield such a power. So, without further ado, we begin!”

Allura waved an arm next to her, and a large dais appeared with 6 branches, each holding a glass sphere. Each sphere was empty, save for one that glowed a rich blue. Lance stared at it in wonder, it was magnificent.

Allura motioned for the first candidate to step forwards. It was a man no older than 23, dark in skin with bright blonde hair. He walked calmly towards the dais, showing no sign of excitement or fear. He placed his hand gently on the glass, and the orb shuddered with force. The man had to back up, as shards of ice came out of the ground towards him. He looked to Allura in shock, and she shook her head sadly at the man.

The next woman had a similar reaction from the orb, with a wave of water coming to smack her in the face. She left, disappointment showing clearly on her face.

The third candidate had the most unusual reaction, for as he approached, the light of the quintessence dimmed, and the color went a sickly white-grey, as if the quintessence was scared of the man. He had frowned, but left without glancing back.

The other three candidates faired no better or worse, and to everyone’s surprise and dismay, the quintessence chose no one to bond with. The gods looked shocked and confused at the outcome, and Allura made the dais disappear from the stage.

Disappointment was heavy in the air as they returned to the castle. Shiro and Keith slunk off immediately towards the training arena to blow off steam. Hunk said he needed to go over a new menu for Pidge to input into Alfor’s system for more variation. Pidge sighed and started off towards her tech room, before turning back towards Allura.

“Allura, I’m going to perform some system upgrades to Alfor, so he will be unavailable for a few hours. If anyone gets hungry, they have to cook for themselves.” After that, she left the room.

Allura turned towards Lance and addressed him. “Lance, I will inform the others of the Alfor system being unavailable, but afterwards I need to discuss with Coran a few particular things. I won’t go into details, but regardless, you are free to do as you please until dinner time! Feel free to entertain yourself with all the castle has to offer.” She smiled at him as he nodded, turning to walk with Coran after Hunk.

Seeing as how the gods were all busy with their own tasks, Lance wondered at what he could do for the rest of the day. Remembering the garden Hunk and Shiro had told him about the previous night, He headed out to see if he could find it, excited for its “legendary beauty”.

 

__________________________________________

 

_Damn it, damn it, damn it! Did I take a left and then a right…?_

Lance groaned helplessly, completely lost in less than 20 minutes of searching for the garden. Once he realized his dilemma, he had tried to retrace his steps and go back to his room. That had gotten him further lost within the depths of the castle.

With Alfor out of commission while Pidge performed her updates for the program, Lance could not even call for directions. Instead, momentarily defeated, he slumped against a wall and sank to the floor. How could he get so lost so quickly? He had quite outdone his previous failures this time, that was clear.

He huffed out a bitter laugh at the thought, sitting with his legs to his chest. After what seemed like only a few minutes, Lance started counting the drips of water coming from down the hallway.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

_Bet there is a beautiful creek in the garden, maybe even a waterfall._

Drip. Drip. Drip.

_Wonder if there is a lake? It probably has very pretty flowers if there is a river or lake…I wish I could find the garden and swim in the lake…_

Drip.

_Drip._

Drip.

_Drip…drip…dr-water? Wait! Water! I can hear it! I’m close to the garden!_

Energy and hope renewed, Lance jumped up and took off towards the sound, running down hallway after hallway, guided only by the constant dripping of water getting louder with each step he took. He could hear the drips becoming faster and more constant, eventually turning into a strong flow.

 _I must be getting close to the garden! The water is so loud now!_ Lance rushed around another corner and stopped, panting from the exertion of running.

At the end of the hall, there was an ornate door. As Lance got closer, he saw the gold and silver that looped up both sides of the door frame, meeting along the top frame. Crystals dotted between the gold and silver trails, appearing as flowered vines twisting together. The door itself was decorated with the same gold and silver, except where the frame had vines, the door had…animals? No, dragons! Two large dragons appeared at the top of the door, spitting jeweled fire at the object in the center of the door. _Wait, that’s a man in the middle…_ Lance thought idly.

It was true, a man stood in the center of the door, each part of him was decorated with specifically colored gemstones. The feet were yellow and blue while the hands were red and green. The head was black, and the body had a large “V” on its chest. The bottom of the door had depictions of people cheering. Lance’s eyes widened, dawning on him what he was seeing.

 _The Spell of Voltron…_ He gaped at the door, not believing what he was seeing. Could this really be a depiction of the legendary spell of the gods? It left him breathless, his focus on the door only breaking as he heard running water like rushing river from behind the door. Without thinking, Lance opened the door and went inside.

Upon entering through the door, Lance sees a glowing light in the center of the room. It seemed to be radiating from a large object. As his eyes adjusted, he saw with horror that it was the quintessence of water sitting inside its glass on its decorated branch. _No,_ Lance thought. _I can’t be here! This place is probably restricted. I thought it was guarded better...? What if they throw me out for trying to steal the water quintessence? I have to leave…_

As if reading his thoughts, Lance feels the energy of the quintessence orb pulling him towards itself, beckoning him to come closer. He knows he should leave, he should try to find a route back to his room, but he can’t break his gaze upon the blue aura cased inside a glass sphere. It’s as if the orb knew he wanted to leave. Does it want him to be in trouble by getting caught in a room he is restricted from? His body moves of its own accord towards the center of the room where the quintessence lies, unable to stop his limbs from their route.

The quintessence of water glows more strongly as Lance approaches it, humming as if satisfied with his compliance. The sound of splashing water like an angry sea roaring with fierce power fills Lance’s ears. That sound, he finally understood, was leading him here, not to the garden he had originally sought. He is suddenly next to it, he could reach out and touch it if he desired. His heart beat wildly in his chest. He should call for help, try to escape. In the back of his mind he registers that his body is bewitched by the orb to do what it desires of him. With panic, Lance sees himself raise a hand to the quintessence, getting so close to it, and then touching it.

The light from the orb suddenly explodes outward, lighting the entire room for a moment. Lance cannot move, his fingers seemingly glued to the glass sphere. He sees the quintessence orb rise from the sphere, really what else can he do? It stops, and then suddenly charges towards Lance, hitting him in the chest. The force knocks him onto his back and when he tries to rise, he realizes he is glowing blue.

That’s when the pain begins. It was indescribable pain that seemed to course through his very veins, lighting him on fire and freezing him at the same time. He felt like he was being hit by lightning, his body twitching with every wave of shock that went through him. He heard a noise and realized that he was screaming.

Shriek after shriek left his mouth, barely stopping for Lance to breathe in more air before he was screaming in pain once more. He could feel tears on his face, knew he was crying, but could not concentrate on anything but the pain that he felt.

_Help me, please, someone! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, please have mercy on me! Please, I’ll do anything I am so sorry!!_

As if answering his prayers, the pain stopped suddenly, a wave of euphoria slowly overtaking his senses. He sighed in relief, absorbing the feeling as he was on his way to unconsciousness.

Before he fully slips into the blackness, he hears distant footsteps and frantic yelling.

And then he blacked out completely.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger!!!! I will be honest that anything that happened in this chapter was basically unplanned. I only knew about one part of the chapter, and the rest is all new to the story. So far, much, much more has happened than I had planned for, and this story really is starting to evolve and it is amazing for me as the writer to see. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Comments, Kudos, and requests are always welcome!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has to understand things about what it takes to be a guardian, and some Shance happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! another chapter! This chapter I planned the beginning out, but as with last chapter, this story is now in charge of itself, save for some plot points that I need to hit. That being said, most of this will NOT be filler. Once the story is a little more developed, I may make a separate story of filler chapters from this story. I feel like there will be a lot since I like to change things, so stay tuned for that! Also, I realized that Lance’s home village did not have a name, so I fixed that this chapter. I really hope it doesn’t seem to awkward or late for a name drop, haha. ONWARDS!!! No idea how to link her profile but this chapter and all before it were beta'd by the lovely Smozie01!

Lance was laying on his back, no wait…he was floating. Floating gently to who knows where. Lance smiled as warmth rippled over him, calming him instantly. He felt as if he were lying on the beach on a warm summer day, shaded by his umbrella. He could hear the waves crashing softly against the shore. This was nice, and he felt safe.

Lance let himself relax, slowly slipping towards the void of sleep. He wanted to stay here forever. It was peaceful. He didn’t have any worries or responsibilities to attend to.

 _Odd,_ he thought briefly. _I should have something I need to do. Why can I not remember? I shouldn’t worry about that right now, this feels nice. Let me stay here, please._

He continued to drift along in and out of sleep, always met again with the warmth of the place he was at…

_The beach…what beach…? I can’t remember its name…Odd…I feel like something is…not right…_

A dark figure made its way towards Lance, he was able to hear their footsteps in the sand. He turned his head to greet his guest, and finally opened his eyes.

It was a man. A tall man with dark hair and broad, strong shoulders. He wore a smile on his face, a scar over his nose. Lance knew this man, but how? Why can’t he remember a name?

“Who are you?” Lance asked the male, still dazed with sleep.

The man chuckled. “You know who I am,” He replied.

Lance did, but was unable to recall. The man sat next to him as he pondered.

“Why can’t I remember? I know who you are, but no names come to mind…” Lance looked and the man, wishing to scoot closer to him. He was very attractive, after all.

“You will remember, when you wake up.” The man smiled at him, shifting closer so that they sat side-by-side, their hips just touching.

“I am asleep?”

“In a way.”

After some time, Lance gave a small laugh. “You know, I can’t even remember my _own_ name. Isn’t that silly?” He looked up to the man, but the man gave no reply.

_“…ce….”_

Lance’s brows furrowed. “What did you say? I didn’t quite hear…” The man only stared at Lance as his body began to become translucent. The man was disappearing.

“Don’t leave!” Lance called out, holding his arm out for the man.

The man only smiled wider before he faded completely.

_“Lance…”_

His head whipped around the area, there was no one there.

_“Lance…”_

He was sure he had heard a voice calling him. Calling him? Was that his name? Was it…

_“Lance!”_

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance’s eyes flew open, vision blurred for a moment. As it cleared, he was met with worried grey eyes that reminded him of a storm. He knew those eyes, and whom they belonged to.

“Shiro…” Lance breathed out, brain not awake enough to figure out why he was staring at the man. It slowly dawned on him that Shiro was cradling Lance closely, kneeling next to him on the floor. If he could get his thoughts in order, he might have been a bit embarrassed. As it were, he was just grateful for the friendly face after he began to recall what had happened to him.

“Lance,” Shiro said, eyeing him closely. “Please tell me what you remember. Can you recall anything?”

Lance nodded. “Pain. It was so painful…” a shudder ran through him and Shiro gripped him more firmly. “I…I heard water and thought it might be the garden…I found this room…and I went in…” He trailed off, remembering his thoughts that had screamed at him to stop, to not go into the room. “Oh…I-I am sorry…s-so sorry…” Tears welled up in his eyes and his body shook with silent sobs.

“Hey,” Shiro said soothingly. “It’s ok Lance. You aren’t in trouble. We just need to know so we can make sure you are ok.” He smiled at the shaking man, trying to comfort him.

Lance took a shuddering breath and continued. “The orb, sphere, q-quintessence was there, and…it… _pulled_ me to it. I was in a trance, but my mind was able to keep its own thoughts. I couldn’t control myself though. I touched the orb and…it…shot me?” He pointed to his chest where the quintessence had entered his body. “After that, I only felt pain. Everywhere in my body, like I was burning and freezing at the same time…” He shook his head, unable to continue, and hid his face in Shiro’s shoulder, gripping the man’s shirt tightly.

“Coran?” Allura’s voice fell upon Lance’s ears, though he did not make to move.

“Hmmm…It seems that the quintessence of water has chosen Lance to bond with, however, it apparently forced the bond onto him. Perhaps it sensed danger at the candidate ceremony and wanted to bond with someone trustworthy. Still, it should not have been painful unless Lance were unwilling to accept the bond.”

Lance felt all eyes turn to him, but he didn’t know what to say. After a few moments, he pulled away from Shiro, but only just enough to look at the roomful of people. Had they been there the whole time?

“I didn’t reject it. I couldn’t _do_ anything…” Lance tried to explain, hoping that it would be enough of an explanation.

“What were you thinking? Once you entered the room? What were your thoughts?” Pidge was looking at him with an expression of curiousness.

“I…I guess that I wasn’t supposed to be here, that I should leave…?”

“Coran,” Pidge said, turning to the mustached man. “Could it be possible that the quintessence felt that Lance was hesitant, and thought it had to force a bond?”

“You may be right, Number Five!” The man’s eyes were now sparkling with excitement at the idea, no doubt this was something new to write about the bonds of the quintessence.

Hunk piped in. “But then wouldn’t his bond be incomplete? Wouldn’t he have to bond with the quintessence the right way? An incomplete bond only allows limited power over your element, which isn’t very good…”

Lance paled at the thought of having to undergo the extreme pain he had felt once more. Allura took a step closer, putting her hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“You are correct, Hunk. Lance will have to make the bond again, this time willingly. And soon at that. It could be very trying on the body to keep an incomplete bond for long.”

Lance shook his head fiercely. “N-no! I won’t! Just take it back! No more pain…please…I can’t do it…” He whimpered as Shiro shifted Lance in his hold, to better look at Lance’s face.

“Lance, a proper bond doesn’t hurt. It won’t be like before, I promise.”

Lance looked at Shiro, his eyes on the brink of a waterfall of tears. He tried to nod, but he was so drained, emotionally and physically, so he just hid in Shiro’s shoulder again, and cried.

“For now,” Shiro said in a decided tone. “Lance needs to rest a bit. He can try a bond a bit later today. It will not benefit him if he is too tired to do it.” At that, he rose to his feet, carrying Lance like a bride, and headed towards the bedrooms.

By the time they got to the sleeping quarters, Lance felt his eyes become heavy. Shiro was walking quickly, and Lance was a bit shocked when they stepped into his room so soon.

Once inside, Shiro made a bee line for the bedroom, and set Lance on the large bed. He sat by Lance’s feet, carefully taking off the boy’s shoes. After a moment, Shiro spoke to him.

“Lance, get some rest. You went through a lot today.”

Lance nodded and hummed in agreement, barely able to keep his eyes open. The boy frowned when Shiro made to leave the room. “You…you’re leaving…?” He looked very distraught, and Shiro just wanted to hold him close. Ignoring that feeling, he answered the question.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“Y-yeah…I don’t want to be alone…”

“Alright, I’ll stay. Now sleep.”

Unable to form words, Lance nodded as he quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

Shiro smiled down at Lance’s sleeping face. It was relaxed in slumber, despite the worry that was displayed on it just moments before.

Kicking off his shoes, Shiro sat next to Lance on the bed. For a while, he just watched the rise and fall of the other’s chest, feeling relief that the boy seemed alright. He didn’t even seem to register his own fatigue as it crept up on him.

As Shiro teetered on the edge of sleep, a soft smile graced his features.

 

__________________________________________

 

Shiro woke with a start, wondering what had woken him up. He heard shifting and whimpering coming from his bed. He flicked the light on to see Lance’s face scrunched with worry. He was shaking and sweating, and…was he crying? He appeared to still be asleep, caught up in some nightmare. Shiro gently sat on the bed next to Lance, shaking his shoulder and speaking softly to him.

“Lance. Hey Lance, wake up. It is a dream, you are asleep. Wake up, Lance.”

Lance’s eyes flew open and he gasped, panting as if he had been running. “Sh-Shiro…” Regaining some of his bearings, he looked around the room, taking in where he was. As his eyes fell on Shiro, they widened.

“SHIRO! You…you’re ok…?”

Shiro frowned, wondering what the boy had dreamed about. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Shiro suddenly found his arms full of Lance, as the boy immediately hugged him. “We were under attack and had to fight…I tried to help, I really did. But I couldn’t use my powers because my bond was still incomplete…I couldn’t _help_ , Shiro! Then…t-then you…” He stopped, feeling a lump in his throat, tears streaming down his face and onto Shiro’s shirt.

“What happened, Lance?” Shiro’s voice was calm, soft, comforting.

Lance started to shake more, a sound escaping his lips that Shiro thought was the most heartbreaking sob he had ever heard. “You…you _died._ You died because of _me._ I couldn’t help you… I was useless. I am so sorry, Shiro. I’m sorry…” Another sob cut off his apologies.

“No, Lance, no. Don’t apologize! It was a dream, a nightmare. Nothing more. I am safe, as are you. I didn’t die, see? It’s ok, Lance. It’s ok.” Shiro continued to soothe the boy, rubbing his hand across the other’s back until his sobs died down and the shaking stopped.

Lance pulled away enough to look at Shiro’s face. “I want to try the bond. I…want to make sure that there isn’t any reason to worry that might happen for real. Please, Shiro? Can you teach me?”

“If you are sure that you are ready, yes. I will teach you.” He smiled at Lance, his grip on the boy still firm to reassure the other.

“Ok. Close your eyes. The quintessence is inside you, so you should be able to feel it. Figure out what feels different from before and focus solely on that. It might take a bit of time, but you can do it.”

Guided by the comforting voice, Lance closed his eyes and focused on himself. He concentrated on how his body felt now. He felt different…like his blood contained life itself. _That has to be it._ So, Lance focused on it, on the very core of his body, and the waves of power that rushed over him like an ocean.

“Once you feel it, imagine gently pulling at it with your mind, holding it. Feed it your desire to become one with it. To bond with it.”

Shiro’s voice sounded distant, but clear. Lance imagined holding this power close to him. His desire to protect his friends rolled over him and he poured those thoughts into the source of power he held.

Suddenly, Lance felt as if he were dropped into water, coldness wrapping around him, though not uncomfortably so. He opened his eyes and saw white everywhere, Shiro nowhere in sight. The white was an expanse that surrounded him. In front of him, he saw the quintessence orb.

“I want to bond with you, properly. It wasn’t correct before. Please, I want to help my friends, to protect them.”

He watched the orb shift its form into that of a lioness. It was still blue, which amused Lance a bit. But he stood tall and walked towards the beast.

“What must I do?” Lance now is less than a foot away from the lion, it could tear him to pieces if it wanted.

“You say you want to help your friends? You think my power will help with this?” The lion was not speaking through its mouth, but Lance decided he liked it better this way.

“I saw in a dream what could happen if I were to fight alongside my friends without powers. I couldn’t protect them. One of them died. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Dreams often focus on your own doubts and fears, so it makes sense that you would see your friends in peril due to your own incapability. I have felt much doubt from you, Lance. How can I trust that you won’t take my powers and use them for your own gain?”

“I already have everything I need here at the castle. All I want now is to protect what I have. I don’t want anything more.”

The lioness stares at him for a moment, considering his answer. “You will swear your loyalty to me?”

“Yes.”

“Above all else?”

“Yes”

“Then I will grant your wish. Place your hand upon my forehead, and the bond shall be complete.”

Lance doesn’t hesitate, and as soon as his palm touches the lion’s head, he felt water swirling around him, inside him. It was soothing and pleasant, not at all painful. He opened his eyes and knew the bond was complete. He could _feel_ it. A tug at his consciousness that was gentle. He smiled, and realized he was back in Shiro’s room (had he even left?). He looked at Shiro and was met with a very shocked face.

Shiro’s mouth had dropped open in surprise, his eyes were wide as he stared at Lance.

“What?” Lance tilted his head in confusion.

“You…you were _glowing_ , Lance! Your whole body was glowing blue!”

Lance looked at himself to see that he was no longer glowing. “Hmmm…I glowed before, too. When the quintessence flew into me. I glowed.”

After a moment, Shiro’s face morphed from shock to acceptance. Lance yawns and lays back down into Shiro’s bed. He mumbles Shiro’s name and something else that Shiro couldn’t decipher.

“What? Lance, what did you say?” Shiro leaned closer to Lance so he could hear the man.

Lance hummed, well on his way to the bliss of sleep. Shiro chuckled at that, giving Lance his space as the boy’s breathing evened out.

Shiro knew that even bonding the right way was exhausting and he smiled softly as he watched Lance sleep. Once he was sure that Lance was in a deep sleep, he gathered him in his arms and walked to Lance’s room, setting him on his rightful bed so the boy could sleep as long as he wanted without disturbance.

Shiro left the room and headed to the castle’s greeting room. He knew that everyone would want to know that Lance had bonded with the quintessence and was now resting.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance woke up to his stomach growling loudly. He was a bit turned around at seeing himself in his own room instead of Shiro’s. _Did Shiro bring me here…?_

His stomach growled again and he sighed, getting out of bed to take a quick shower before going to the kitchen.

Once he was dressed, looking more awake than he felt, he headed to the kitchen. He heard voices as he neared the dining room and decided to stop there first. Upon entering, all eyes fell to him as he stood there awkwardly. It appeared as if they were in the middle of dinner when he interrupted.

His stomach rumbled at the smell of food and he gave a half-hearted laugh. “Can I join you?”

Everyone smiled and told Lance to sit and eat. Lance is grateful, immediately digging into the food on the table. He didn’t care if he looked crazy, he hadn’t eaten since that morning. It was much earlier than usual, too.

Allura addressed Lance saying, “We were just discussing the ceremonies we need to prepare for! Alright! With Lance here, we can hammer out the details.

“First, there is the announcement ceremony on Arus. This is where we will announce to the citizens who have been so loyal to us in choosing candidates for the guardian ceremonies. Now, Lance, we will have to practice how you enter and all that jazz.

“The next ceremony is to introduce you politically to your village. We need to prepare you on how to address your subjects. It is really important to make a good impression.

“Of course, we will also be throwing a small shindig here, but no real formalities are needed for that…”

Lance was confused. He didn’t understand why he needed to know all this information. Was he supposed to help Allura this way? Help set up the ceremonies?

Seeing his confusion, Allura asked him what was wrong.

“I guess I just don’t… get what all this has to do with me…?” His confession seemed to shock everyone present. Was it really obvious what his role was to be?

Keith answered, probably a little harshly. “Don’t you understand? Do you really not get that you are one of us? That you are a guardian as we all are?”

Lance stood frozen in shock for a moment as Keith’s words slowly seeped into him. Then the statement crashed into thoughts all at once, causing questions to start swirling around in his head. He was a guardian? A god? An equal to all of these friends he had made? The weight of the situation started to sink into Lance’s brain. He was a god, with powers. He had responsibilities, people to protect. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the amount of responsibility he now held.

It made sense, of course, once he thought about it. He _bonded_ with the quintessence of water, so yeah, he is a god. But that part never really _occurred_ to him. He would get a village to look after. How could he do that? He was a failure, a screwup. How could he be trusted with such things.

He felt something rumble at the back of his mind and realized vaguely that the blue lion was trying to reroute his negative thoughts. Surely if she had chosen _him,_ knowing of his past mistakes, he could live up to his new title? It seemed impossible for him, but he would be damned if he wasn’t going to try his best to deserve it. A purr in his head told him that his lion agreed with his train of thought.

He could do this. He _would_ do this.

Dinner had passed with Lance too deep into his own thoughts to listen. As the room slowly emptied of people, Lance went back to his room feeling a bit more relaxed after “talking” with the blue lioness, or Blue as he decided to call her.

He drifted off into a peaceful slumber that night, comfortable and happy.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance’s nerves were shot. He had dressed into formal attire that Hunk had designed about an hour ago, pacing the floor between his and Hunk’s common rooms ever since. Lance had been so uneasy when it had come time to pick out clothes for the day that Hunk had to come over and forcibly make Lance sit in the common room while he went to synthesize an outfit for the poor man.

Lance was grateful, of course. He wanted to make the best impression, but he still had no idea why he was chosen by the quintessence. He didn’t doubt that it thought he was worthy, but the question was _why_ did it think he was worthy?

These are the thoughts that swam around in his head until it was time to leave for Arus. Everyone packed into the flying carriage, Lance squished between Hunk and Shiro this time, and off they went.

They landed the carriage behind the large platform as they had last time. Lance could already tell that the entire area surrounding the platform was decorated in various shades of blue to symbolize water.

 _You can do this,_ he thought. _It chose_ you. _It wants_ you. Lance took a calming breath, anxiety starting to rise again. A hand rested on his shoulder in comfort, and he turned to see Hunk smiling. Lance swore the man’s smile was magic. It instantly eased him as they all headed up the steps to the top of the platform.

The ceremony was short. It was announced that Lance had been chosen by the Quintessence of Water to bond. Lance had accepted and became the new Guardian of Water.

The crowd clapped and cheered for him, which was a relief to Lance. He smiled down at the crowd, feeling humbled by their excitement.

Lance had noticed that there were a small number of people in the back of the crowd that didn’t cheer along with the others. He didn’t mind, but something about it unnerved him a bit. As they turned to leave, he asked Allura about it.

“The previous contestants. Probably upset that they hadn’t been chosen. Pay them no mind, it will pass eventually.”

 _Ah,_ Lance thought. He could understand their dilemma. Being chosen as a contender for the great honor of bonding with the last quintessence, only to be upstaged by someone no one had ever heard of. He felt guilty, but really, what could he do? It wasn’t like he had _sought_ _out_ the quintessence to bond with. It chose him; he had no control over that.

The ceremony ended, and the small celebration started. The gods were brought to a long table where they would be served a small meal. In front of the table, a large space was opened to allow for the villagers as well as the gods to partake in dancing if they so wished.

Lance was excited about the dancing, wanting to see what kind of dances there were. He hadn’t ever had time to really take part in any of the dancing rituals from his home, but he knew he loved music.

He remembered hearing the tunes in the distance as he did his extra chores around the tavern in his village. They rang happily out from the center of town, trickling in through the open windows of the bar. Lance had occasionally tried to make up his own dances to the music, whenever he was sweeping or moping. He used to pretend that the broom and mop were his dancing partner, as he whisked and twirled them across the floor.

He smiled at the fond memories as several villagers made their way to the dance floor, jaunty music beginning to play. He gazed at the dancers while he ate his meal, eyes roaming over the complicated steps.

He must have been staring too long because Hunk got up from his seat and asked if Lance wanted to dance. Lance opened his mount in shock and then nodded. Hunk took him to the dance floor and attempted to teach him a less complicated dance step. He wasn’t sure the larger man succeeded, but Lance had fun nonetheless.

After a couple of songs, Hunk was taken away by Pidge. Hunk chuckling, stating that she liked Hunk to swing her around since it felt like flying. Lance smiled at the pair as they danced in a corner of the floor. He almost didn’t feel the presence that crept up behind him.

Gasping, Lance turned around quickly, coming face-to-face with a taller male. He had blonde hair and a bit of muscle but was mostly lanky in figure. Before Lance could speak, the man asked to dance with him. He accepted, a bit taken back by the request.

It was halfway through the dance when the other man spoke. “Rolo,” he said. It took Lance a moment to realize that he was telling him his name.

“Lance.”

The man nodded, and of course he knew who Lance was, he had been there for the ceremony. Mentally berating himself, Lance realized that he recognized the man.

“Uh…you were one of the guardian candidates, right?” Lance attempted to remember when the man had approached the quintessence before.

“Yeah. I’m surprised you remember. We were all pretty shocked that the quintessence didn’t bond with anyone that day…” Lance nodded to the man.

“Yeah, I was shocked too. You all seemed so right for it…I still don’t think it makes much sense that I was chosen…” Lance knew he shouldn’t be self-deprecating in front of others, but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m certain the water quintessence wouldn’t have just chosen a nobody? You must come from a noble background like Nyma over there.” Rolo inclines his head to Lance’s left where a striking blonde was dancing.

“…No,” Lance replied softly.

“Oh? Then you must have achieved some great and magnanimous accomplishment? Like Plaxum or myself even?”

“Not exactly…it was kind of the opposite really.” Lance’s voice had grown quiet. He could tell now that this man dancing with him, Rolo, wasn’t as friendly as he had initially appeared. His sentences which had originally seemed innocent, now had an edge to them. Rolo was sizing him up, trying to see if Lance was worthy of the precious and powerful gift he had been given. Lance was quickly beginning to realize that he was not. A sense of crippling inadequacy began to take root in his chest, like it did back when he was in his village. He hadn’t felt this sense of fear mixed with pain and disappointment for several weeks now. Ever since his new friends had accepted him he had slowly begin to feel like he belonged. Now, however, he was beginning to spiral back into his old habit of self-doubt. His eyes danced over the sea of people around him. Vaguely aware of the other pairs of dancers that surrounded him, he realized that was trapped in a circle of ex-contestants and people he didn’t recognize. He couldn’t see any of the other gods.

Rolo suddenly swung Lance around so that his back was against his chest. The man held him there as he continued to whisper in his ear.

“So how _did_ you get the quintessence to bond with you? You force it? Trick it?” Lance struggled unsuccessfully against the man. “You aren’t very strong, so that probably wasn’t a factor. Tell me, _Lance,_ how did such an unworthy peasant become a god?”

Lance’s thoughts were racing as the man’s grip tightened on him. The other contestants and people around them stopped dancing, blocking off all exits from Lance.

“I-I didn’t do anything. The quintessence _chose_ me. I didn’t go to it or try to bond with it on my own.”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not!”

“You-“

“What is going on here?” A deep voice interrupted them, making Lance’s heart race.

The small crowd of people parted to allow Shiro to approach Lance and Rolo. Rolo had released Lance, glaring at Shiro’s intervention.

“Nothing. Lance and I were just getting to know each other, that right, Lance?”

Lance didn’t know what to say but wilted under Rolo’s pointed look. He nodded slowly, afraid of what the man would do to him if he spoke against him.

Shiro didn’t buy it, it was written clearly on his face. He didn’t press the issue, however, instead, taking Lance’s hand.

“Pardon me for interrupting, then, but I must steal Lance away for a few dances if you don’t mind?” It wasn’t a question.

“Oh, yeah. Sure.”

Rolo glared at the two as they retreated to the other side of the dance floor.

As soon as they were far away, Lance breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be away from the crowd of unhappy guests. The squeezing pain in his chest had begun to dissipate, but Rolo’s words still clung to lance eroding away at his self-worth.

“Thanks, Shiro.” He smiled softly at the other man, who returned the gesture.

“Anytime, Lance. Now, how about I teach you some more dances? I saw Hunk teaching you earlier. Want to try a more complicated one?” Lance looked at the other man’s eyes, which were sparkling with laughter. How could anyone say no to eyes like that?

Shiro led Lance in an intricate dance. He was surprised that he was actually able to keep up with the taller man, and soon was laughing with joy as Shiro spun him around effortlessly.

Shiro finally decided to address the situation about Rolo with Lance.

“Lance, what did that man say to you?”

Lance chewed on his lip, feeling uneasy once again. “He said I wasn’t worthy of being a guardian…”

When Shiro didn’t respond right away Lance glanced upwards and was met with stormy grey eyes. Anger flashed in Shiro’s eyes as his brows furrowed into a heavyset frown.

“Don’t listen to him. He is wrong. None of the quintessence would bond with anyone that wasn’t worthy. Always remember that.” Shiro’s every word held weight.

Lance looked up to him and smiled. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Shiro then ushered Lance into several more dances, most of which Lance messed up the steps to. Shiro had laughed and modified his steps to match, and the two were soon lost in a clumsy dance of their own creation. They were attracting strange looks from the crowds, but they stumbled over the steps, laughing gaily at each other and ignoring the rest of the people.

Lance was a bit disappointed as the last song of the night had ended and people started to shuffle towards their homes. He wanted to stay and dance more with Shiro, as selfish as that sounded.

His hands still locked around Shiro, Lance looked up at the man before him, taking in his beauty as the moon shone down on them. It was a breathtaking sight. And then suddenly Shiro was staring back at him, light reflecting off his eyes to make them sparkle more vibrantly.

The two were far into their own world, and after a moment, Shiro started leaning towards Lance slightly. His heart rate picked up, and Lance began to panic at the closeness of their proximity.

_What is this? Is Shiro going to kiss me? Is he even interested in me? What if I mess up? Crap! I’m going to mess this up! Abort, Lance! Abort!_

To his own dismay, Lance had begun to subconsciously lean towards Shiro. The two were only inches apart, gazing into each other’s eyes. They were so close that Lance could feel Shiro’s breath ghost his face.

A sudden voice jolted the two out of their reverie. “Shiro, Lance! It’s time to go.”

The two broke apart and turned towards the voice. Keith had come to get them, the others could be seen already piling into the carriage.

Surprised, Lance jogs lightly towards the carriage ahead of Keith and Shiro.

Keith rests his hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “What the quiznack was that, Shiro?”

“I…I don’t know…”

“Can you even trust him like that? I know it’s been a while but…” Keith glanced at the man’s prosthetic. “Are you willing to go through all that again if it doesn’t work out?”

Shiro sighed. He didn’t know, he didn’t know anything. He wasn’t even sure what his feelings about Lance _were_. He shook his head in frustration.

“Take it slow, Shiro. Be careful.” At that, Keith turned and headed to the carriage, Shiro following shortly after.

 

__________________________________________

 

When the group arrived back at the castle, the majority of the group made their way sluggishly to bed. Allura, Coran, and Shiro wanted to converse over a small late-night snack.

“Oh, Lance? Will you join us? There is still a matter to discuss!” Allura seemed way to chipper for how tired Lance felt, but he agreed to discuss whatever needed to be discussed. Thus, the group made their way to the dining hall and Allura asked the Alfor system to make some snacks and drinks for everyone.

Allura then turned to Lance. “Now Lance, have you given any thought to who you will protect?”

Lance looked at her confused. “Don’t the guardians protect everyone?”

Instead of being annoyed, Allura smiled warmly. “That is true, however I had meant if you had given any thought as to which village you would ally yourself with?”

Lance’s eyes widened. “Oh.” Truthfully, he actually hadn’t considered it at all. He was still trying to wrap around the fact that he was a god. But who _would_ he protect? The answer seemed obvious to him.

“Well…I mean I guess I know what village I want to protect but…” Lance looked over to where Shiro was listening to Coran reenacting some tale of his youth animatedly. He took a breath to steady his nerves before addressing the man.

“Um, Shiro?” He looked over at Lance with a curious gaze. Lance swallowed nervously. “Um, would…would it be ok to share your village? I mean I came from there and it really is the only place I can think of to protect. But if you don’t want to, I understand. I can find somewhere else to-”

Shiro’s chuckle cut him off. “Lance, I would be honored to protect Veradero with you. I don’t mind at all. I am sure the people will be thrilled to have another guardian to help them flourish.” He dazzled Lance with one of his gorgeous smiles, making a pink tinge appear on the newer god’s face.

“Not that it isn’t a valiant idea, my dear boy, but why would you want to protect the people that essentially threw you away?” Coran was speaking softly. He cared a lot for Lance, especially upon hearing his story all those weeks ago.

“I…my family. I want to protect my family. And there are good people in the village. Sure, they didn’t stop the elder leader’s decision to offer me to Shiro but that doesn’t mean that they wished bad things upon me. I can be helpful to my home, my family, and my people. I want that.” The softness in his gaze wiped all doubt from the room. The boy’s conviction for his family was heartwarming.

Allura spoke up next. “Alright, with that settled, I will begin preparations for your village presentation ceremony. It shall take place in about a week, as I believe I can prepare all that you will need for it.”

Lance nodded, biting into a frosted treat. He was glad that Shiro had agreed, as he really didn’t know what other villages he could have allied with. He supposed that he could have just had Allura pick and that would be that. But somehow that did not feel personal enough for him.

He was glad he could finally succeed in helping his birth town.

 

__________________________________________

 

There was a bustle at the dining table early in the morning a week later. Pidge and Hunk were trying to convince Keith to help them make life-size robots to fight each other with, insistent that it was _definitely_ useful to the guardians. Shiro watched them from the other end of the table, chuckling at their attempts.

Lance had just piled his plate with food when Allura turned her attention to him. She had wanted to go over the ceremony that would take place that evening.

 _The ceremony for my…home…_ Lance shook his head to clear that thought. The village of Veradero was no longer his home, Altea was. The gods were his home, his family, now. He sighed softly, unsure whether he should go through with this or not.

He was just so afraid that his village wouldn’t accept him as their guardian. He knew that a village could not even hope to have even one, let alone two, guardians. However, his village _knew_ that he was a failure; they knew his faults.

Lance looked at Shiro, laughing at something that Keith had said. Maybe he would feel better if Shiro were there with him at the presentation. If anything, Lance could just hide behind Shiro’s hulking body for the duration of the ceremony. He wouldn’t say that out loud though.

Instead, he decided on another, more convincing route. “Allura? I think that Shiro should be at the ceremony with me. I mean, he _is_ their current guardian, and I think that it is only fair that he be there when I am presented as their second guardian. And we are sharing responsibility for the village, so it really just feels right to me.”

“Hmm. I see your point. Very well. Shiro, you will join us at the ceremony this evening, and you can take my place in presenting Lance to the village as their joint protectors. Is that alright with you?” Allura’s voice had that tone that made you think you had no choice.

“That sounds fine, princess. I haven’t actually been to see the village in a while, so I guess that I am due for a visit anyway.” Shiro looked a bit sheepish at the thought that he had neglected his god duties, and Lance couldn’t help but focus on his nervous smile and the way he rubbed the back of his neck with his prosthetic arm. It was cute.

After breakfast, they each took to their own tasks. Pidge and Hunk dragged an unwilling Keith to the tech room to build robots. Coran went to research more on the powers of the gods while Allura ran through more preparations with Shiro. Lance heard something about a speech he was going to give.

With no real duties to attend to, Lance made his way back to his room. He had decided to create a new outfit for the ceremony at Veradero, part of the reason being nerves and part being that he wanted to appear good enough. He wasn’t sure if he was going for intimidating, confident, or even powerful, but he knew he needed to try better and appear better and…

_…and be better…_

After about half the day, and twelve complete outfits later, Lance felt he was more or less ready for the ceremony. He had decided on a light blue tunic with a tail that went to his calves. The tunic was bare at the shoulder, but had sleeves that started at his bicep. The top covered his décolleté area and rose into a straight collar. The entire top was trimmed with silver.

His trousers were pitch black, tucked into matching black boots. Lance decided to add some makeup to his face, hoping that he would seem different enough from the accident-prone man the village was used to.

After finishing with his appearance, Lance made his way to meet with Shiro and Allura for the ceremony. Being an informal ceremony, only the co-guardians had to attend, along with the first guardian to give her blessing to Lance.

They flew in Pidge’s carriage once more, their destination set towards Veradero.

Upon arriving at the village, they were greeted warmly by the villagers as they landed on the pedestal and exited the carriage. Lance’s nerves skyrocketed as he walked purposefully behind Shiro. He thought he was being sneaky about it, but Shiro had taken notice.

He reached back to take Lance’s hand, a small smile set on his face. Lance’s nerves eased a bit, if only because he was distracted by the warmth of Shiro’s large hand.

They stood at the top of the steps looking out at the crowd, Lance still somewhat hiding behind Shiro. Anxiety shot up in the smaller man as the village leaders approached the bottom of the stone steps. Lance cowered further behind Shiro, his grip increasing on the other man’s hand. He was quickly beginning to think this was all a huge mistake. He let out a small whimper of fear, though he hadn’t meant to. Shiro squeezed his hand gently, trying to assure Lance that it would be ok.

“Honored guardians! We are humbled by your visit! What reason do you have for blessing us with your presence this evening?” The village heads bowed in reverence to them.

Allura stepped forwards first. She had arranged with Shiro that she would address the village before he presented Lance. “Please, the honor is ours! We have a momentous occasion for our visit! We apologize for not revealing beforehand the reason for our visit, but I am sure that you will agree it was worth the wait! May I present to you, Guardian Takashi Shirogane!”

Shiro took a step forwards, forcing Lance to follow behind him. “Village of Veradero, I am very pleased to appear before you today. I have the pleasure of announcing that the Quintessence of Water has finally chosen to bond with someone!” Murmurs of surprise rose throughout the crowd. Shiro waited for the noise to reduce somewhat before continuing.

Lance felt sick.

“This guardian has humbly decided to add his strength to mine in order to further protect this village and its people.” Several noises of excitement could be heard at that statement. “I am honored to present to you, the Guardian of Water, Lance McClain!” As he said that, he ushered Lance forwards to stand next to him, facing the crowd.

Silence fell upon the entire crowd. Lance managed to give a weak smile to the people, heart beating rapidly. He saw several citizens glare at him, obviously not pleased with his new position amongst them. Who could blame them? They had just relieved themselves of his presence only to wind up kneeling before it.

 _This was such a bad idea._ Why did Lance think this was a good idea again? Images of his family flashed through his mind _. Oh, yeah. That’s right. Family. For my family. Family, family, family!_

After several awkward minutes of silence, the head leader of the village stepped forwards to address the gods. “Revered protectors, we of Veradero are humbled by such an extravagant blessing. To be guarded by two gods is unfathomable, and we humbly accept such graciousness.” His voice did not reflect his words, more than a little bitterness seeping out with each word. Lance knew it must be hard for him to say such things when he clearly felt none of it.

“Guardian of Water, we are pleased to bestow upon you whatever gifts you wish of us. Please, tell us what you wish for, that we may grant your wish.”

Lance felt panicked, unsure of what he was supposed to say. He looked at Shiro, who only smiled at him in encouragement. This was something he needed to choose on his own. He decided to go with his gut, hoping it would be alright.

“I…I do not wish for any gifts, as protecting the village I came from is gift enough for me.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, as the entire crowd frown and glared at him. What had he done wrong? He didn’t want the village to have to give gifts to both him _and_ Shiro every year. He didn’t want to be a burden, _again._ He didn’t understand why everyone was upset at his words.

Lucky for Lance, Shiro stepped in to save him from utter humiliation. “What I believe Lance means, is that he wishes the village to share the gifts given to me, so no additional gifts are needed. He wants to give back to the people of the village more than receive from it. His request only seems fitting, as he and I now share the duty to protect you from harm. Don’t you agree?”

Shiro had left no room for argument and the village leader reluctantly agreed to the new arrangement.

With the alliance settled, and a new document written for the village, the three found themselves climbing back in the carriage to return home.

After a few minutes of flying, Shiro spoke to Lance explaining that the reason the citizens seemed upset at him not accepting any gifts was due to the fact that every village felt the need for the presents. They felt that it solidified the pact made to the god and that the gifts would ensue their protection. He explained that even though all the gods tried to assure them it wasn’t necessary the people would not listen. After several years, the gods gave in to receiving the tithes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know, and I caused trouble for you.” Lance stared at his lap until he heard the other two burst out in laughter. He looked up confused.

“Oh, dear Lance! It is quite alright! Your intentions were pure and, in the end, Shiro evaded the problem well enough. No need to apologize.” Allura’s eyes sparkled with the laughter she could not contain. Shiro had agreed with her immediately, causing Lance to feel better about the slip up. It was going to be ok.

 

__________________________________________

 

Morning came faster than Lance expected as he rolled over and stretched. Today he would begin training with Allura and though he knew it would probably be exhausting, truth be told he was excited. He would learn to defend himself and others and finally, maybe he would find his place in the world.

He got out of bed and dressed in a plain, loose pant, perfect for movement, as well as a stretchy sleeveless top. Both items were a light blue in color. Lance slipped on some socks and a pair of flat shoes with a thick sole. Once he considered himself ready, he made his way to the kitchen for a light breakfast. He didn’t want to have too much in his stomach when he started physical activity. Something told him that waffles would not taste good a second time around.

Allura was already in the kitchen when he arrived. She handed him a suspicious looking glass of something green as well as a plate of fruit and various nuts. He took them without a word and sat down, intending to consume his “meal”.  However, one sip of the drink had him looking at Allura with a scrunched-up face. She giggled at his reaction.

“It is a blend of nutrients to help build muscle. Although the drink is not considerably… palatable, the benefits from this drink are worth the foul taste, I assure you.”

Lance managed to force the drink down, using the fruit to help mask the aftertaste a bit. After “breakfast”, Allura told him to take some time to warm up his body. Lance, of course, did not really know what she wanted him to do, so she led him to the training room and showed him how to activate guides on stretches through Alfor.

As Lance and Allura started to do the stretches, Lance looked around the room, taking it all in. The room was huge, bigger even than the greeting room he had seen upon first entering the castle. It was about 20,000 square feet in size with various equipment scattered about, a track looped around the edge of the room. He wasn’t sure what all the equipment was for and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. Most of it looked too heavy to lift.

_Though I bet Shiro could lift them…_

Lance shut that off train of thought as quickly as it started, not wanting his thoughts to wander into thinking of how Shiro would look shirtless, lifting the heavy weights making his muscles flex… He would probably be glistening from sweat after working out…

_Shit…_

He shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate on the rest of the stretches. Afterwards, Allura led him through what felt like rigorous cardio, although she assured him it was light. She had him run around the track a few times and followed that up with some pushups and jumping jacks. Once he felt thoroughly exhausted, Allura told him the training would begin.

They ran through a few defensive maneuvers, Allura having him practice each one until he got it perfectly. Allura was starting to show him another, more advanced move when he asked her a question.

“Not that I am impatient or anything, but when are we going to start focusing on my power the quintessence gave me?” Lance was getting anxious to see what he could do with his new abilities. He slightly regretted his question after seeing the look on Allura’s face, however.

“I must warn you, Lance, that your powers can be very overpowering. If you aren’t careful, or if your body cannot handle the stress your powers put on it, the outcome could be disastrous, even fatal. You are not to attempt to connect to your powers until I give you permission. Trust me on this, you do not want to take your chances. We will work to get you into shape so that your body can withstand the force of your powers. Wait until then, alright?”

Lance nodded and promised that he would, nerves now set on edge at the idea of accidentally chopping his head off or his body exploding into pieces. He would obey Allura, for his own safety.

By the time Lance flopped onto his bed that night, he was too tired to even bother brushing his teeth and changing. He slid right into his covers and immediately fell asleep.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance walked calmly through the white abyss, familiar with colorless plain. He waited patiently, knowing, feeling, that Blue would come to him. He must be feeling her through his bond as he did not freak out at his surroundings.

As he thought, the blue lioness appeared to him, greeting him with a purr and a head bump. Lance could feel anxiety running through her, something wasn’t right.

“Blue, is everything ok?”

“No, my cub. I have felt an ominous presence for a while now. It bothered me so much that, when I felt the presence at the ceremony, I knew I had to bond with someone worthy. This is why I forced a bond with you.

“However, what has me worried is that this presence is growing at an astronomical rate. I fear that it will keep growing and threaten many lives.”

“Do you know who this presence belongs to? Who or what is gaining power?” Lance was concerned by the unease of such a majestic entity as Blue was.

“I am not positive, but I believe that it is the work of that Zarkon, the man who leads the Galra. Ever since he fled with them, that presence has lingered. It had been stable, however, until just recently. I fear that a war might be coming.

“My swet cub, you must listen to me. I fear that the other guardians do not know that the threat of Zarkon is this real. You must warn them, you all must prepare for the very worst. Do not delay on this, it will not serve you well. Be careful, Lance, and trust only the gods you have met here, no one else. Do you understand? _No one else.”_

Lance nodded. _No one else._ He shivered at the thought as he felt the white fade, Blue staying put as Lance was pulled away from her, back into consciousness.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance woke with an abrupt start, staring at his ceiling while breathing heavily. Or, at least it was supposed to be his ceiling, but it was shimmering in a strange way, almost like it was…

Lance’s eyes widened as he quickly threw himself off his bed and onto the floor, rolling as far away as he could get. The large pool of water that had been floating above his bed suddenly crashed down onto the bed and floor.

 _What the_ quiznack _was there water above my bed for?_  Lance caught his breath, and it was then that he remembered his dream. Or, realistically, he remembered Blue coming to him in his sleep.

Without taking care to be quiet, Lance rushed through the doors to his room and down to the other guardian’s. He did not knock, just entering the two doors to where Shiro slept. He shook the man urgently, instantly waking him.

The man was confused and after turning on a light to see who woke him, was concerned with the look of panic on Lance’s face.

“L-Lance? What the…what are you doing here?”

“Shiro, Blue talked to me. You need to listen to this.” Lance told Shiro everything the lioness had said, and the warning she left him with. He went on to describe the water he accidentally made and that his room was now soaked from the encounter. He knew Allura said not to use his powers yet, but he hadn’t meant to. He told Shiro that he was afraid.

The noise Lance made had awoken Keith from the room next door. He walked in still groggy from sleep and demanding to know why Lance was being so loud. Shiro quickly explained and the three made their way to Lance’s room.

Once seeing the room, still flooded from the water, Shiro grabbed Lance and dragged him out of the room and down the hallway. Keith waded through the ankle-deep slush and striped the bed of its linens, tossing them into the laundry chute to be washed. He then ordered Alfor to fan out the room to dry the wet floor.

He followed after Shiro after he was finished, passing by Hunk and Pidge who were stumbling out of their rooms.

“To the dining hall, you two, we have a problem.” Keith said no more as he walked briskly to the dining area.

When he arrived, he ordered a ton of coffee for everyone, knowing that they would all need it.

Allura and Coran came rushing in shortly after and Shiro and Lance relayed the story once more.

Allura looked at Coran intensely. They seemed to be sharing the same thought. “Lance, I know that a lot of the bonding of the quintessences are still unknown. It seems that the bond you share with your quintessence is unique, at least I have never heard of such a thing.

“Nevertheless, we cannot overlook that your powers reacted to your bond. You cannot allow your powers to overpower your physical self. Therefore, I am tasking you to continue your training with me every day, as well as beginning to strengthen your bond with your quintessence. Shiro, you will lead Lance in achieving this. You must do both of these each day.

“Coran, I will need you to pull any and all information about Voltron and quintessence that we have. I must research this further.”

After that, each split off to his or her room, determined to get more sleep. Lance, not being able to sleep in his room due to the water, grabbed a spare blanket and curled up on the couches of the greeting room until breakfast.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was worth the wait! Comments and kudos fuel my ego and inspiration.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Shiro spend some quality time together and other shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! I am super sorry for the silence I was busy with work. Mostly. anyway! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Some parts I admit I got carried away but hopefully you like it! Chapter Beta'd by Smozie01.

Lance flopped onto his bed, muscles screaming at him yet again. It was like this every single quiznacking day for him now. Allura was no freaking joke when it came to training, and he decided that she must use magic to make herself look so lithe. She should have bulging hard muscles like Shiro, not smooth and gentle curves. He snorted a laugh out, instantly regretting the action as his abs protested any movement. He had abs now, proof of his rigorous training. He had gained muscle mass over the weeks, and had to frequently make new outfits to wear to keep up with the changes.

Death, he decided, was Allura’s end goal for him. His mind drifted off with complaints of this routine, eventually slipping into a deep sleep. Each day, there seemed to be a brand-new regime of training for him every week, and it only ever got more intense. The god had him not only training his strength and endurance, but they would practice defensive fighting techniques 4 times a week and offensive techniques 3 times a week. He could now fight and defend in several different styles at a mediocre level. It was taking its toll on him, physically as well as mentally.

He would eat a quick, light dinner immediately after the training was done, and then he would collapse on his bed without even changing or showering. Allura _did_ make them have a few hours of breaks between their training sets and Lance took that time to eat and nap. He was sleeping a LOT each day now, but still felt exhausted. He wasn’t sure if he could work any harder than they currently were (though Allura made sure to promise him that they could and they _would_ ).

Luckily for Lance, the other gods noticed his absence throughout the day as well as his muted personality when seeing him in the dining hall. Hunk was worried, ever the sweetheart, but Pidge warned him not to mess with Allura’s training. Every new god had to go through it, and Hunk had shivered with memories from his time in training. He did _not_ want to go through that again. Keith didn’t say anything, of course, as it wasn’t his business. Coran merely mentioned the boy’s absence, saying that he missed having the upbeat attitude around. Shiro, however, was taking it pretty hard. He and Keith were both aware of his, _attraction,_ to the godling. They hadn’t realized, however, how much it had _grown_ since they first met.

Shiro had immediately thought Lance was nice to look at, even though he turned him away. It didn’t feel right to have humans _given_ to him, so he thought he had made that clear to the village. But Allura had asked Lance stay at the Castle and for that he was eternally grateful. He took a liking to the mild-mannered boy, even more so as Lance began to lose his shyness. In other words, Shiro had become smitten with him in barely two weeks.

Now it was about a month and a half since Lance had come to live in the castle and Shiro was beyond hopeless, in Keith’s opinion. He would often find the larger man sneaking peeks at the training room as the boy and woman trained. If that weren’t enough, Shiro would stare at the other at meals with a dreamy smile on his face. It was annoying, to say the least. So, Keith had taken it upon himself to catch Shiro in such embarrassing acts. He would catch the man’s eye and raise an eyebrow at him, causing the normally even-toned skin to turn bright red. Keith would also lightly slap the back of Shiro’s head as he passed by if the other man was making “Lance eyes” (as Keith had dubbed it). It became a favored pastime of his over the last week.

True, Keith had not wanted Shiro to bond too much with Lance at first. Shiro was his closest friend and he was protective of him. He had been there when Shiro was just a citizen of the same town that eventually became Veradero. The hot-headed boy had only been a Guardian Candidate at the time and was sent to Veradero to see about any potential candidates. The city of Arus, where the ceremonies were traditionally held, was once just a center for the candidates to gather. Over time, Arus had started selecting candidates exclusively from those who lived there. Once Keith got to the village, however, it was attacked by the Galra and he had seen them carry off a young Shiro amongst other civilians. When he reported back to Arus, the ceremony was postponed until further notice.

A year had passed by before the ceremony resumed. It was during that same ceremony that Shiro had finally reappeared, on horseback no less. He rode the strange-looking horse up to the stage, where he then delivered a message to Allura herself. Keith had noted that a portion of his hair was now white where it had previously been black. He wondered if that had happened during his time as a prisoner for the Galra. Once the man had said his part, he stood aside in order for the ceremony to continue. Keith was first in line and the red quintessence chose him immediately. No other candidate was chosen, though the green, yellow, blue, and black quintessences were still unbounded.

As Shiro passed by the dias on his way off the stage, the black quintessence reacted and they bonded. Everyone was shocked by this, but immediately applauded him. Keith knew they saw his natural leadership and strength. He had escaped from the Galra, after all.

Once at the castle, Shiro and Keith became instant friends and training buddies. Shiro helped tame the wild recklessness Keith exhibited, while Keith helped Shiro deal with the nightmares and panic attacks from being held prisoner. So after all they knew about each other, it made sense that the hot-headed man was a bit overprotective.

But Lance had been something that Keith was not expecting. He, naturally, hopped into protection mode, not wanting Shiro to get hurt in case Lance had ulterior motives. It hadn’t worked because these two seemed to always be running into each other at every turn and making very stiff, awkward conversation every time. The fire god often got horrible second-hand embarrassment just watching the two. As much as he hated to admit it, however, Keith could tell very quickly that Lance was a genuine person. He had given up trying to keep the two apart, instead just watching as they went from awkward fumbling to friends. It was, dare he say it, cute.

It didn’t take Keith all that long to give up his attempts on splitting up Shiro and Lance. They just naturally migrated towards one another. When Allura had told Shiro to help train the water god to control his quintessence, Keith had seen Lance use his powers for the first time. He was attempting to shoot a bit of water from the palm of his hand. He shot himself in the face instead. That was when Keith decided that the other god wasn’t really a threat, and he had genuinely laughed at the now thoroughly soaked man. That had earned him a glare and Lance shot himself in the face again when attempting to throw water at Keith. The fire god had cried he was laughing so hard.

Due to his closeness with the god of storms, Keith had also recognized that training was taking a toll on the new god. He would often spot Shiro carrying the other towards the sleeping quarters after more intense training sessions. The beefy god’s stress level rose as Allura’s training became more and more fierce. His nightmares woke him up every night and Keith could hear the man panic. He always helped him through them and after the fifth day of nightmares in a row, he decided it was time to appeal to the princess.

“This needs to stop, Allura.” Keith had addressed the woman the second she came into the dining hall that morning. He and Shiro had been awake for a few hours due to a nightmare haunting the poor storm god. “You need to stop working Lance until he passes out. It is affecting everyone in the castle.”

Allura was surprised, of course, but she was also quick to defend herself. “Everyone here went through the same training, Keith. Lance needs to complete his training with me just like the rest of you did.”

The fire god would not be brushed off so quickly. “None of us trained twice a day, though. Lance trains with you and then trains with Shiro all in one day, _every day._ He needs a break, Allura. His muscles won’t strengthen properly if he keeps this up. He doesn’t get enough sleep and is often too tired to make it to his room at night, let alone even shower. He is going to crash, hard.”

The princess looked angered by his words. “His quintessence bond is unique, Keith. He cannot be expected to train in the same way as everyone else. And what’s more, his vision with Blue has told us that we must be prepared to fight Zarkon and his minions. And _soon._ ”

 _So that’s what it is._ The fire god would not back down. “With all due respect, princess, even if Zarkon is planning for an attack…no, _especially_ if he is, having Lance too tired to move will only put him in danger.”

The woman sat glaring fiercely at him, though she did not comment. Keith took that as a signal to continue.

“It’s affecting the rest of us too. Shiro’s nightmares have come back every single night for the last week! If _Shiro_ isn’t at his best, we might as well surrender now because there is no way we could defend without him!” This seemed to finally snap the woman out of her stubbornness. She sighed in defeat.

“Fine. He can have three days of rest, as long as Shiro agrees to still work with him on building his quintessence bond, even if it isn’t much.”

Keith looked satisfied with that and told Shiro and Lance once they had woken up. Lance had burst into tears, though whether it was from relief or sleep-deprivation, Shiro couldn’t say. He decided probably a little of both and he gave Lance a hug to comfort him. Lance leaned fully into the embrace and Shiro ended up holding him until he fell asleep. The hot-tempered god helped Shiro take the sleeping godling back to his room. Upon placing the boy on his bed, the two realized that he had a firm grip on Shiro’s shirt. Keith chuckled and went about trying to pry open Lance’s hands to free his poor friend. After thirty seconds, it was obvious to them that it was a futile attempt. Shiro huffed in frustration and practically flopped onto Lance, immediately falling asleep. This made Keith laugh more. He watched the two for a bit before covering them with a blanket and leaving them to recover.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance woke up an hour before noon feeling warm and rested. He opened his eyes in shock when he realized there was excess weight holding him down. He was not expecting Shiro to be sleeping _on top of him_ and he had to resist crying in alarm at the sight. He took a few moments to calm his breathing and, in that time, he noticed the dark circles under the other man’s eyes.

 _So Shiro wasn’t sleeping much either, huh?_ The thought bounced around in his head for a bit as he took the time to gaze over the god’s features. His face was completely lax in sleep, mouth slightly open with a bit of saliva making its journey onto the pillow. Lance smiled at seeing this, reminding himself that no one was perfect even if it seemed to be as much. He was glad to see that Shiro was getting rest. He had barely thought this as the larger man’s face suddenly scrunched into a frown, a small whine passing over his lips. Having siblings, Lance was naturally prepared to gently rub circles into the man’s back as he softly whispered to him, easing him back into a deep slumber.

Lance dozed lightly for two more hours before his muscular blanket woke up. He was a bit disoriented and confused at first, blinking the sleep out of his eyes slowly. His eyes met Lance’s and widened after a moment.

“S-sorry Lance! I didn’t mean to- well, I guess I did mean to…but I meant to wake before you did…and you were holding my shirt and I was so tired I just…but I’m really sorry-“ Lance cut him off with laughter.

“Shiro, it’s fine; we were both exhausted. I’m just surprised we didn’t both fall asleep at the dining table, forcing Keith to carry us both!” Shiro laughed at that, picturing Keith hauling both of them down the hallway.

“He almost had to, I was so tired!”

The two laughed for a few more moments before deciding they should actually eat, having missed breakfast _and_ lunch. They made their way into the dining hall and Shiro had Alfor whip up some burgers and fries for them both. Lance had never heard of a burger but Shiro assured him it was delicious. He described it to Lance as they waited and Lance decided that it was a very interesting type of sandwich.

“And fries are basically chopped and fried potatoes. They are really addicting.” Lance agreed with that sentiment, feeling that any type of potato was a blessed gift. They ate in a comfortable silence, both enjoying the food and company. When Lance was devouring his mountain of deliciously crisp potatoes, he finally asked Shiro a question.

“We still have to train a bit today, huh?”

Shiro sighed. He had forgotten that contingency placed upon the days of rest. He figured they probably should, but nothing too rigorous of course.

“Yeah, but _what_ is the question. I don’t want to do anything too exhausting but we _did_ promise the princess…”

“Hmmm,” Lance let his brain run over various exercises that they had practiced, trying to pick out anything simple they could do that afternoon. He was soon frustrated, his mind running through things he _wanted_ to do. He _wanted_ to visit the gardens. He _wanted_ to take a walk outside in the field. He wanted…he wanted…

“Ugh!! I want to go swimming! Not practice fighting or bonding or whatever!!!” Lance let his arms droop beside him, his head tilting back over the edge of his chair. He was whining like a child and he knew it. But didn’t he _deserve_ a small vacation? He busted his butt with training and he wanted to do something _fun_. Sure, he knew the Galra were planning something with Zarkon, but he just wanted _one day_ to himself (and Shiro, if he wanted to join in).

“Why can’t we do both?” Shiro’s voice had an edge of amusement in it. Lance lifted his head to give the man a flat look, only lifting an eyebrow to invite him to explain. Shiro chuckled at that, noting how adorable Lance looked in the moment (though, if he was being honest, Lance _always_ looked adorable). “We can go to the lake, take part of the day to swim and part of the day to train. Being near or even _in_ the water will help strengthen your bond with Blue, I’m confident in that.”

That brought excitement to Lance’s face, blue eyes sparkling like the sun reflecting off the ocean’s waves. “There’s a _lake_ here?! Why didn’t you say so! Let’s go right now!” He bounced off his seat and was instantly by Shiro’s side, tugging his arm to try to make the larger man stand up.

“Why don’t we go tomorrow, so we can have Hunk pack us food for the whole day? Tonight we can just run through basic exercises. Sound fair?” He couldn’t help but smile at Lance, he was too cute when fired up about something. The water god immediately agreed, and the two went to the training room after their meal.

Shiro had them warm up with a few lazy laps around the room before starting the actual training.

“Ok, Lance. You’ve been doing very well with summoning bursts of water from your hands, so this time I would like you to try to make one stream of water.” Lance smiled; that was easy. He conjured a long stream of water and let it curl around his torso and waist.

Shiro tisked and held up a finger. “It won’t be that easy, Lance. The _real_ task is to not let the stream touch the ground. You must keep a constant grip on it while defending yourself.”

“Defending myself? From what?” Lance’s brows knitted together in confusion. Shiro’s lips quirked into a very hot, very maniacal smirk.

“Me.” Without warning, Shiro launched towards Lance, swiping a punch with his metal arm. Lance yelped and barely dodged the man’s attack. Immediately, Lance decided that the water would have to be transferred from hand to hand as Shiro came at him. With any luck, Lance would be able to dual summon an ice shield with his other hand.

Shiro was relentless, attacking with kicks and punches, trying to catch the other man off guard. Lance was mildly successful with summoning a shield momentarily to block a punch before dispelling the ice and transferring the water as he dodged a follow-up kick. He was very proud of himself but worked hard to steer his focus to the task.

He was able to avoid dropping his stream for a good half-hour, which was no easy feat. It all went downhill when Shiro surprised him by jumping and throwing a punch at him. He had backed away and lost his footing, trying to dodge the attack. Lance stumbled backwards and landed painfully on his rear. Unfortunately, the stream of water followed him and he was instantly dripping from head to toe.

Shiro burst into laughter at the sight of Lance, thinking about how the man looked like a wet cat, embarrassed and angry. It was adorable and soon had Shiro in tears, a few snorts ringing in the air along with the man’s laughter. The picture caused Lance to turn a violent shade of red.

 _Well, at least I got him to smile…and laugh…_ Lance’s eyes drifted to Shiro’ mouth, as they so often did these days. He wanted to mash his own lips onto them badly. Could anyone blame him though? The man was _a god_ and definitely looked the part with his bulging muscles and tall frame. Lance found his eyes wandering along the curves of the other man’s arms, down to his hands. His eyes trailed along that descent to strong hips that, had the man been facing away from Lance, would have a very nice ass planted between them. The water god loved watching Shiro train by himself, as the storm god loved wearing tight pants and leggings that clung to his assets perfectly.

Thinking these things made Lance’s throat suddenly dry. He really shouldn’t be ogling Shiro like that, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself. The man was gorgeous, kind, warm and caring; everything anyone could ever want wrapped up into one neat package. Shiro was the tall glass of water and Lance was very, very thirsty for him.

 _Shit._ He had gotten distracted again. What had Shiro just said?

Shiro smirked at him, one eyebrow raised. _Dammit, what do I say?_

“Uhhhh….sorry…what?” _Smooth, Lance. Smooth._ He mentally slapped himself.

“I asked you if you were ready to turn in and rest before our sort-of-day-off tomorrow?” Shiro’s eyes were sparkling with amusement. _So sparkly…_

“I, uh…yeah. I’m ready. Still a bit surprised by that last attack I guess…” Lance hoped he covered himself with that lie. Shiro shrugged it off with a chuckle and held his hand out for him. Right, Lance was still on the floor. _I couldn’t even get up off the floor before drooling at him. Sheesh!_ He accepted the hand and was pulled to stand beside the bigger of the two.

“I’ll have to teach you how to defend against that move sometime. It will prove useful to you, I am sure.”

“Yeah, that would be great. I don’t think my ass can take a lot more of those falls, though.” Shiro laughed. _He has the most wonderful laugh._

“What? You mean Allura hasn’t whipped your ass into shape? I thought by now, you’d be able to crush rocks with it!” Shiro was teasing him and Lance couldn’t help but love when the taller man would relax enough to joke. A smile crept onto his face at the joke.

“I guess I will have to step it up to get myself rock-crushing ass powers.” They both laughed at that. Lance had begun to be more comfortable with Shiro recently. It wasn’t a difficult thing to do, the man was even-tempered and loved to throw in his own witty jokes from time to time. Lance felt like he fit in whenever he was around him. It was like being at home just by being beside the god.

As they walked to their rooms, Lance and Shiro casually talked about the next day and the food they would hope to get Hunk to make them before they left. Lance hoped this familiarity would stay with them and even grow stronger.

They parted ways, bidding one another good night. Lance thought he could really get used to this.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance woke up sleepily, almost relaxing back into unconsciousness when he suddenly remembered he was going to spend _the whole day_ with Shiro. Not only that, but the two were spending the day together _alone._ His heartbeat picked up in excitement and he jumped out of bed to get dressed. He had already decided what he was going to wear the day before. He stripped off his night clothes and put on deep blue swimming trunks with stars around the bottom. He threw on a sleeveless zip-up hoodie that was a light blue, matching the color of the stars on his shorts. He rubbed himself down with sunblock he had to have Hunk help him synthesize before slipping his feet into dark blue canvas shoes. He grabbed a towel and a bag to keep that and the sunblock in before heading to breakfast.

Shiro had apparently been awake for a while, the man helping Hunk make food for the day. He greeted Lance as he sat down around the table, passing a bowl of eggs to him. Lance accepted the bowl and heaped up his plate with eggs, bacon, fruit, and a few slices of bread. He dug into his food and the conversation between the three was easy and light. They discussed a few new recipes that Hunk hoped to test out on Pidge and Coran later that day. Lance commented that Hunk’s food was a priceless gift that should be valued for all eternity, making said man turn red from the compliment. They laughed a bit and talked about Hunk’s hometown before Keith and Pidge showed up.

Pidge immediately drew Hunk’s attention and the two began violently whispering about various upgrades to be made to the castle and ‘aer-riage’. Lance shook his head, smiling at the two that were so obviously devoted to each other. As if sensing his thoughts, Keith interjected his own.

“As if you’re any better at concealing your feelings.” He had whispered it to Lance, catching the man off guard. He blushed and stuttered about, trying to think of a reply. Keith chuckled and rolled his eyes. “See what I mean? You’re a mess.” It was said with an air of fondness, making Lance blush more and fake-pout.

Lance’s relationship with the hot-tempered god had improved drastically. It seemed at first that Keith would hate him forever and let him know it. But something had changed down the line, though when and what were still a mystery to Lance. Keith’s insults became softer, he stopped demanding Lance “do this” or “don’t do that” and began spending more time with him. Soon, the two had started making friendly banter and Lance had even splashed the other god with water a few times after he made a snarky comment. They had laughed and playfully punched each other’s shoulders, Keith grabbing Lance’s head to muss up his hair. Lance would even go so far as to consider them friends rather than just acquaintances. Things were falling into place and Lance was finding a home within each of the gods and that thought warmed his heart.

Shiro made a gesture to him, saying that they should finish packing the food so they can leave for the lake. A bright smile appeared on Lance’s face as he hopped up and followed the other man into the next room. They bustled about, sticking various foods and water packets into two baskets before leaving the castle and starting their walk to the lake.

“Is the lake far,” Lance asked, excited to swim for the first time since arriving at the castle.

Shiro must have sensed his eagerness because he chuckled, eyes sparkling as they looked at the smaller man. “It’s a bit of a walk, but I promise it’s worth it.”

Lance frowned at that (he had hoped the lake was close by) but quickly regained his grin as he remembered that he got to spend the whole day with just them two. He was bubbling over with happiness that he couldn’t completely contain, much as he tried. He began humming as they walked, a comfortable silence falling upon them (save for Lance’s humming).

Shiro smiled to himself, enjoying the other’s music. Lance had a decent voice when he sang and Shiro let himself become absorbed in it. He did not recognize the tune, no doubt some song that belonged to his, no _their_ , village. It was light and carefree, practically dancing around the storm god. He could easily picture Lance singing and dancing gracefully, maybe if they had time he would ask the man if he could dance. Though Shiro was pretty sure that he could, as his eyes landed on Lance’s hips which were swaying gently to the humming as they went.

Yeah, he was pretty sure that he was falling hard for Lance. His eyes always unconsciously found him as they ate meals together. He would also admire the man’s figure during their training, watching those muscles on his chest begin to fill out as well as staring at the wonders that squats were doing for his thighs and ass. Don’t even get him started on Lance’s hips, which he had seen do very sinful things. He was certain he should not have been watching, but when he heard music as he passed Lance’s room one day, he had been curious. The door had been open and Shiro could see Lance inside the bedroom dancing and singing, hips moving to the beat the man had set. The storm god’s mouth dropped when he saw Lance twist and shake his hips suggestively, singing in a language he didn’t understand. Shiro had left pretty quickly after witnessing that, face completely red and his lower regions very much awakened. He vowed to never speak a word of what he would do in the shower for the next few days. He felt that he should be more ashamed of himself, but could only feel more desire to be around and get to know Lance. He was _so_ screwed.

They finally came to the edge of a forest and Lance looked back the way they had come. He could barely see the castle, so he reckoned they had been walking quite a while. He didn’t see any immediate path as he peered into the dense mass of trees and for some reason, the forest made Lance feel a wave of nervousness. He looked to Shiro, who was unaware of his anxiousness, but the man kept walking as if nothing seemed strange or foreboding.

 _He must know the way by heart. Does he come here often?_ Lance’s mind was abuzz with many questions, heightening his wariness about the forest.

They walked amongst the underbrush for a while before coming to a path that seemed to begin suddenly out of nowhere. Lance was intrigued at this, following Shiro down the path for two more miles. The trees suddenly opened and Lance was temporarily blinded by sudden light. Once his eyes adjusted, however, he gasped in shock. Before him was an immense lake surrounded by rocks and bushes, the sun beaming down upon it. The trees had parted and followed the edge of the lake in a circle, surrounding the secret little spot. It was a beautiful hidden oasis and Lance wondered how Shiro had even found it in the first place.

“It’s nice, right?” Shiro was grinning at him softly, gauging his reaction.

“Nice? _Nice?!_ Shiro, this is the most amazing place, _ever!_ I can’t believe it! It’s so pretty, and the lake looks awesome…!” Shiro was chuckling at his response.

“Yeah, it really is.”

Lance gazed at the man for a moment, watching his eyes look upon the scenery fondly. “Well?” Lance rolled his eyes, as Shiro looked at him in confusion. “Let’s _go_ already!” Not waiting for the storm god to respond, Lance sprinted to the lake. Once there, he set down the basket he carried and stripped down to his swim trunks. He began climbing the rocks and by the time he reached the top, Shiro made it to his abandoned items and made to copy the tan boy. Lance smirked as he watched Shiro pull off his shirt and shoes, backing away from the edge of the rock quietly. Suddenly, Lance bolted forwards with a yell, surprising Shiro as he ran off the edge towards the clear water. Lance’s smirk grew as he neared the water, calling it to himself. Just as he hit the surface of the lake, he shot a wave of the water high into the air, manipulating it from under the water to arc towards the other man.

When Lance came up for air, he saw a very disgruntled Shiro who sported a dripping wet coiffure*. The water god cackled in delight at his prank and took off swimming the length of the lake. Taking that as a challenge, Shiro dove into the lake after Lance, using his upper body strength to propel him towards the other man. It took some time to get close to the water god due to the fact that that the water seemed to not force any resistance onto the skinny man as he effortlessly danced through the lake. Finally, Shiro had gotten close to Lance and hooked his arms around his middle, earning a squeak of surprise from the human fish, before pulling him playfully under the water.

When they resurfaced, Lance was wearing the biggest grin on his face. “You are _so_ on!” He connected with the water in order to send a small wave over Shiro’s head. The man laughed and did his best to reciprocate the gesture. The two went on like that for a while, occasionally racing each other in the water. Lance always won the races, but Shiro never minded in the least. He got to see that brilliant smile on Lance every time he whooped in victory. Oh, how he _so_ wanted to kiss that smile.

They ended up getting tired and breaking for an early lunch, opening one of the baskets they brought. It was filled with delicious sandwiches, fruit, and a plethora of side dishes. Hunk sure knew how to cook as it was all mouth-watering and delicious. They both sighed and moaned as they ate, forgoing chatter temporarily as they appreciated the meal.

After they ate, they lounged on the grass for a bit while they digested. Lance was the first to break the silence.

“How did you find this place? It’s kind of tucked in here, you know?” That earned a chuckle.

“Well…” Shiro sighed, running his prosthetic through his hair. Lance stared at the man shamelessly, wanting to run his own hands through that two-toned hair. “I guess it was back when, well… A while back I was, uh, _stressed_ , and one time during the evening I was restless. So I took a walk around the castle but it wasn’t enough. So I found the little path that goes towards the forest and decided to walk until I felt calmer, or tired. Either one was fine with me at the time. Anyway, I kept walking and hit the edge of the forest. I don’t know why, but I still felt agitated so I kept walking _into the forest_ so I could burn off that energy. It didn’t take long before I found this little lake. I swam around until I could barely move, and then I walked back. It was very calming for me, so the next day I left in the morning to find the lake again. I made the path inside the forest, but I still wanted to keep it private, you know? Maybe it was selfish, but I wanted a place that was for me. Ever since then I would come down here anytime I felt restless, I guess.”

When he finished his story, he looked over to Lance sheepishly with a small smile. Lance returned the gesture with his own understanding smile. He was delighted to find out that the lake and swimming helped Shiro. Lance understood how relaxing swimming could be, as he had learned to swim at the beach near his village early on. Even listening to the waves crash comforted him in a way he could not express. To learn that it was the same for Shiro warmed his heart and made him feel even closer to the man.

They talked for a bit after that, about everything and nothing. Lance learned that Shiro’s favorite food was lasagna and he liked to have his room really cold so he could bundle himself up and drink hot tea. Shiro found out that Lance liked to pose in front of the mirror when he felt scared or nervous, especially before he was presented to Arus and Veradero. The two laughed and finished their meal after Shiro mentioned that they should actually train a little.

They made their way into the lake again, staying in the shallow area. Shiro told Lance to reach out to the water from the lake.

“You can already feel the quintessence within you, but instead you need to feel for the energy in the water.” Shiro talked to Lance softly, not wanting the other to break concentration. “Instead of pushing it away from you, pull it towards you and hold onto it.”

Lance closed his eyes and focused on trying to feel the energy of the lake water, feeling the soft breeze pass over him and causing the water to ripple. For a moment, he felt nothing from the water. Suddenly he could feel a ripple in the water, the energy of the wind against it. It felt like all of a sudden, Lance was plummeted under the water, feeling the quintessence within him react to the element he was connected to. He could breathe, so he knew he likely wasn’t actually under the lake, but _oh,_ what a feeling this was! It was like every part of his body was connected to the water and showed him everything within and around it. He could feel the fish swim, could _see them_ without opening his eyes; he felt both weak and powerful, as if he could destroy everything so easily but also destroy himself. He was amazed at what he felt and knew that this must be what it was like to strengthen his bond with his quintessence, with Blue.

He slowly reached out to the water, pulling it towards him and envisioning him holding a ball of water in his hands. He bent the water to his will gently so as to not have it backlash on him.

When he was first learning to control the quintessence within himself, he had pulled too hard too soon and got many a shower as the water resisted his control. He knew now that when dealing with water he needed to flow with it and shape it into his own weapon. Water was not stubborn per say, but Lance had learned that going along with the natural pull of the water yielded the best results. Since the lake water was technically a new source of energy, Lance knew that he had to apply the same techniques here and start slow. He needed to feel which direction the water surged before distorting it into the spherical shape he desired.

Shiro nearly jumped when Lance’s body started to glow a strong blue color. The water around him started rising up in small droplets that hovered towards Lance. Was this the power of a quintessence bond? Shiro knew his own bond allow him to manipulate clouds, lightning, and even some other elements belonging to storms. He did not expect that Lance would be able to warp the water outside his body so soon. He expected that Lance would be able to lift a small amount into his hands for a while, but this was…it was more than Shiro could have imagined the man had the ability to do.

Suddenly, the droplets increased in mass and swirled around the water god, blocking him from view in a funnel of water. Shiro gasped and called out to Lance.

 

__________________________________________

 

Lance is enveloped in white again, nothingness all around him. He sees a figure start to appear to him and knows that Blue is calling to him.

“Blue, you there? Did you need to talk to me?”

A blue lion came into view and sat before Lance. “My cub, I have something to discuss with you.”

“What’s wrong, Blue?”

“Be calm, my child, there is nothing to fear. I merely need to discuss with you the abilities that you are acquiring.”

“My abilities? Like how Shiro is teaching me to use water outside of my body?”

The lioness nodded. “Yes, my cub. There is more that you should know. You must continue to train with Shiro, but instead of letting him teach you, you must teach him.”

Lance was taken aback. How was _he_ supposed to teach _Shiro_ anything? “I-I don’t understand Blue. I don’t know how I could teach Shiro; I am too inexperienced…”

“No my child, you know more than you think. You have learned to tame your powers quickly and now use that training to learn to control things outside of yourself. But more than that, you and Shiro share a connection. Your powers have the ability to combine together and doing so will boost your strength astronomically.”

Lance was astounded. He and Shiro could _combine_ their powers? It made sense in a way, since Shiro could use all the powers of storms. That included water like rain, right?

“You have learned the way in which water flows and that you need to let _it_ guide _you_ in order to use it. Shiro has the potential to use the water element as well, but he needs your help to draw it out of him. He is used to using force to direct his quintessence. He needs you, Lance.”

He couldn’t believe it. He had never amounted to anything in his life, failing again and again. But suddenly here he was, a god of water, living in a castle. And someone _needed_ him. _Shiro_ needed him. It was too much to believe, yet, as he thought about it, somehow it all made sense.

 _Bonus: I get to spend more time with Shiro._ He smiled at the thought.

“Learning to fuse your powers with Shiro will help immensely in your fight against the Galra, as well as learning to use the Spell of Voltron.” Blue’s image distorted a bit and she rose to her feet. “Our connection is ending, my cub. Heed my words and bond further with Shiro.”

As Blue started to fade, Lance rushed forwards and threw his arms around the beast, pulling her into a tight hug. “Thank you, Blue.”

“When you most need my help, child, I will be here for you.” She faded completely and the white nothingness vanished.

Lance gasped as he was pulled back into consciousness. He saw the funnel of water and immediately cut his pull on the water. He was dizzy from connecting to Blue and he swayed a bit, barely keeping himself from falling under the water. He was so tired suddenly.

 

__________________________________________

 

Shiro saw the twister of water disappear and the blue light around Lance recede. The man swayed from where he stood in the water, and Shiro worried he might collapse.

Rushing over to Lance, Shiro put an arm around him, leaning the other man against his chest to stabilize his balance. “Lance, are you alright?”

“Sh-Shiro…?” Exhaustion sat heavy in his voice. “…’m tired…”

Shiro smiled softly. “Yeah, I can see that. How about we rest outside of the water for a bit, huh?” Lance gave a small nod, making no effort to move away from the larger man.

Shiro took this as a sign that he was too tired to move and he picked the other up and headed back to their picnic area. He set Lance down and the man almost immediately fell asleep. _Connecting like that must have worn him out. I’ll have to remind him to be more careful…_

Shiro sat down and watched Lance’s peaceful face for a bit before laying down next to him. At some point between Shiro staring at Lance’s eyelashes and mouth as they twitched in sleep, Shiro found himself dozing off.

After an hour or two, Shiro woke up and noticed that it was getting a little late. He shook Lance lightly to rouse him and informed him that they should be getting ready to head back to the castle.

“Maybe try not to hold onto a connection that long, alright? You’ll wear yourself out really fast if you do that.” Shiro explained that since using their quintessence takes energy, connecting directly to the source would expend energy more quickly, resulting in exhaustion and weariness.

Lance chuckles. “I’m fine, Shiro, just a bit hungry. Let’s eat a bit and then we can head back, ok?” Shiro rolled his eyes but agreed, feeling a little hungry himself.

They snacked on some fruits and homemade chips until they felt better. Then they repacked the baskets and dressed, making their way back to the castle.

During their walk, Shiro complimented Lance on his swimming. Lance blushed bright red, embarrassed by the compliment.

“I used to swim a lot as a kid. When I got a job, there wasn’t a lot of time to devote to things like swimming or relaxing. The times I could go out to the water and splash around were the best though. I always felt so at home in the water.”

Shiro flashed him a grin, eyes dancing in amusement. “You mean to tell me that the destined god of water felt comfortable in the water?” Lance blinked at him before bursting into a fit of laughter.

“Well it sounds silly when you say it like that!” The two continued to laugh for a few moments. Lance thought about what Blue had told him and decided to see what Shiro thought. “So what about you? You can use water, too, a bit, right? Don’t you feel happy in the water?”

Shiro sighed and looked away. “Not exactly. I suppose I _can_ control water, to a degree. But really, I am no good with it. I can’t figure it out like you can; it’s like there’s something stopping me. I can only make it rain if I make storm clouds but even then, I cannot control what the rain does or where it goes.”

Lance thought about this revelation for a moment before speaking again. “Shiro…Blue told me something.” This caught Shiro’s attention and he stopped walking, turning to Lance. The water god took this as a sign to continue. “She said that we share a connection because we can both use water with our quintessence and that we should strengthen that connection. She said that we could combine our powers together, even, and that doing so would make our attacks stronger. She also mentioned that working together like that is important to the Spell of Voltron. She said…well…she said that I have the ability to teach you to better connect with your water element like I do with mine…Do you think…maybe…that this is true? That I could help you?” Lance looked earnestly at Shiro, hope shining in his eyes as he twiddled his fingers nervously.

Shiro was silent for a moment, taking in the new information given to him. He was mostly shocked that he and Lance shared a bond that the quintessence could feel. If this was true, that he and Lance could be more powerful together, then maybe that could lead them to discovering how to create the Spell. The possibility of being able to make the one thing that could help them defeat Zarkon and his corrupted followers was mind-blowing. Hope bloomed inside him, warming his heart at the thought. He smiled down at the man before him, fondness reflecting in his eyes.

“I think if Blue told you this, that she is right. Your quintessence will not lead you astray if you trust them. We should try it, at the very least. After all, it could not hurt to train a bit more, right?”

Lance was excited at the prospect of spending time with Shiro as well as becoming stronger. The two continued to chat and make plans to train as they continued their route back to the castle.

 

__________________________________________

 

That evening after dinner, Lance decided to help Hunk clean up after his intense baking session. Turns out, the sweet man was attempting to recreate one of Pidge’s tech creations in baked good form. Apparently, her birthday was coming up soon and he wanted to give her the best gift ever (actually, it was more like 6 months, but what can you do for the poor guy?).

So, naturally, Lance could only agree to help him. After his extremely successful day with Shiro, he was more than willing to help clean up while gushing to the man about his day at the lake.

“He was soooooooooo handsome in his swimwear, Hunk! His muscles just _glistened_ in the water. _GLISTENED,_ Hunk!!” The said man chuckled at his smitten friend as he wiped the counter down.

“It sounds like you had the time of your life on you date, Lance.”

Lance’s eyes widened as he sputtered incoherent sounds. “H-Hunk! It wasn’t a _date!_ We were _training!!!_ ”

Hunk gave a loud laugh. “Sure, it wasn’t a date and I am a Galran spy.” He chuckled as he rolled his eyes at his friend.

Lance chose to ignore that comment. “Besides, I connected with Blue again and she said I have the ability to combine my power with Shiro, so now I have to figure out how to help him connect with water _and_ somehow blend our quintessences! Not a date.”

“Huh, that sounds pretty cool, Lance. If Blue said that, then it must be true. You two would have an impressive combined power, I imagine. The storm and the sea are large destructive forces. I am sure it would greatly aid against the war with Zarkon!”

Lance looked at his friend hopefully. “You really think so, Hunk?”

“I know so. Lance, you have way more power in you than you think. Stop doubting yourself so much. I believe in you and so does Blue.”

Lance smiled at the large man, tears coming to his eyes. “You’re right, of course. Thanks Hunk.”

“No problem Lance. Heading to bed?”

“Yeah, goodnight buddy!”

“Night, lover boy.”

__________________________________________

 

Lance was surrounded by the darkened sea, waves crashing all around his little boat. He could not see far in any direction, the water swirling around the small wooden craft. Waves poured over him and the boat, filling it with water before another wave jolted the boat and forced the water out. Lance could barely hold onto the small slat of wood he had been sitting on before the storm hit him. His oars had since been broken away by the harshness of the ocean.

Lance knew that he should be afraid, he could drown from waves this big. But something inside of him knew that he was safe despite his current situation. It was an instinct that was telling him not to be afraid, for he was in no danger. He had a passing thought that maybe the sea water had done in his mind and he was just on the brink of death, but even so, he supposed that at least he would be at peace if he died now.

Suddenly, a blue lion appeared before him in his boat. It was such a familiar being to Lance, almost a maternal figure to him. But lions cannot birth human children, right? He had no time to process this thought, however, as the lion spoke to him.

“My cub, you are asleep. You are in no danger, but your beloved is facing a great terror. You must concentrate on him and go to his side. He needs you now to help bring him away from his own fears. Go, my child.”

With that, the lion disappeared from sight, and Lance was left in the boat being nearly ripped apart by the sea.

 _My beloved? Who could she mean…?_ It was strange, he did not know of any names that came to mind but an image of a beautiful man was painted in his mind. That must be his beloved… _The lion said he needs me, I need to help him…_

Lance concentrated on the image of the man, closing his eyes and blocking out the storm around him. That man needs him and he will not fail to help a loved one. He focused on the man’s grey eyes and smile. Oh, how beautiful he was! Lance must be the luckiest man to have this man as his love.

“-nce…” He heard a voice calling to him and turned towards it.

“Lance!!! Help! Please! Come here!” The voice was familiar but frantic, being overpowered by the crashing waves. No, he has to get to him! He needs to help.

“Lance! Please!”

“LANCE!!”

Lance bolted upright in his bed. Sweat poured down his face coldly as panic set in. _Shiro is in trouble…I have to help him…_

He jumped out of bed and sprinted to Shiro’s room non-too-quietly. He turned on the light by his bed and saw Shiro splayed across his bed, clearly deep in a nightmare. He was sweating and his face was scrunched in fear. It looked like he had been crying in his sleep as well. His sheets had been twisted and curled, eventually thrown off of him sometime during the night.

Lance’s heartrate spiked in fear at seeing his crush so distraught. He needed to wake him up fast and end the terrible dream that was causing this scene. Carefully, he put a knee on the bed next to the man and leaned over to touch his shoulder.

“Shiro, Shiro! Wake up! You are having a nightmare.” He shook the man gently, trying not to create more unpleasantness in the dream Shiro was stuck in. “Come on, Shiro. Wake up for me!”

Shiro’s eyebrows relaxed slightly before knitting together tightly once more. He whimpered in his sleep and gripped the sheets below him hard, nearly tearing the fabric in his grip.

 _Shit, he isn’t waking up. I will need to try something else…_ Lance climbed onto the bed , gripping both of the man’s shoulders roughly and shaking him more violently. “ _Shiro!_ I need you to wake up for me! Come on, Shiro, wake up! It’s me, Lance. Can you wake up for me?”

Shiro began shaking, his breathing becoming erratic and heavy. Lance didn’t know how to help him and tears began to wake up as he became frantic as well. “ _Shiro you need to wake up! WAKE UP!!!”_

“What the fuck are you doing, Lance?” Keith’s sleepy voice drifted over to him. He turned towards the fire god, tears threatening to spill down his face.

“I-it’s Shiro! He is having a nightmare and he won’t wake up! I can’t wake him up, Keith!”

The sleep immediately left the other man as he took in the situation before him. He rushed to the opposite side of the bed and pushed Lance lightly to move over. Lance let Shiro go and sunk to sit back on the bed, watching Keith. He was surprised when Keith suddenly grabbed Shiro’s human arm and wrenched him to turn his face into a pillow, though he made sure the other man could still breathe. Keith twisted Shiro’s arm behind him and pushed down, trapping the man beneath him.

Lance nearly screamed in panic. “Keith, what are you doing to him?! He is having a nightmare and you, you’re going to make it worse by holding him down like that!”

Keith spared Lance a glare that shut him up immediately. “Lance, I know what it looks like, but I have dealt with Shiro’s nightmares far longer than you have. I know what snaps him out of it.” He turned his attention back to his friend. “Shiro, can you hear me? It’s Keith. Shiro?”

Shiro struggled in his sleep for a moment before cracking open his eyes slightly. “…eith…?”

Keith smiled gently down at the man. “That’s right Shiro. It’s Keith. You need to wake up now ok? Remember, patience yields…?”

“…f-focus…”

“Right. Can you focus on taking deep breaths for me?” Shiro struggled to breathe deeply, only succeeding in several choked breaths before his breathing started to even out a bit. Lance was amazed, it was working. Shiro was calming down.

Keith let go of Shiro and started rubbing circles into his back. Shiro closed his eyes for a moment before opening them slightly again, turning to look at Lance.

Lance looked at the hazy grey eyes, hoping that they would clear and Shiro would be alright.

“Shiro, are you ok?” Lance leaned a little closer to the man, attempting to comfort him the way Keith was. The man’s eyes looked at Lance, widening slightly.

Without warning, Shiro shot straight up, eyes trained on Lance in anger. Lance saw that Shiro’s eyes were still clouded with the haze of sleep, though he appeared completely awake otherwise. Shiro lunged forwards towards Lance, knocking them both off the bed and onto the floor. Before Lance could even move, Shiro had his prosthetic wrapped around Lance’s throat, squeezing enough to cause the other man pain.

Lance heaved and coughed, trying to get more air into his lungs. He grabbed Shiro’s arm and made futile attempts to pry the metal fingers from his throat. Shiro only gripped harder, as if he was really trying to kill Lance.

Lance gasped for breath as tears started falling from his eyes, panic and fear starting to weigh heavily down upon the water god. His heart pounded in his ears, sight starting to fade into black, when Shiro suddenly let go and Lance could breathe again. He coughed and wheezed as he attempted to swallow as much oxygen as possible. Once he felt he could breathe again, Lance sat up and looked around.

Keith had wrestled Shiro back down again and was applying the same technique as before to get the man to calm down and come to his senses. Lance felt his throat, knowing that it would bruise from Shiro’s attack. Why had Shiro not been coherent when he looked at Lance? Keith had seemingly woken him up at least enough to reply to him. Did Shiro think that Lance was a threat?

Whatever had happened to Shiro to cause such a nightmare, Lance had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with the Galra. He knew that Shiro had been captured by Zarkon and then escaped. Clearly, something terrible had happened to him that he had to relive in his dreams. And whatever that was had caused Shiro to mistake Lance for one of them.

A pain stabbed at Lance’s heart with this thought. Instead of helping Shiro like Blue had told him to do, he had done the opposite and reminded Shiro of traumatic events in his past. He really was useless; he couldn’t even comfort a friend when they needed him most. Tears welled up in his eyes again and he decided to make himself scarce, lest he screw things up again and Shiro has to relive more pain.

Lance left the room still holding his throat. He walked back to his room and stopped in front of his own door, quickly deciding against hiding away in his room. Instead, he hastily went to the gardens, tears blurring his sight.

Once inside the castle gardens that Hunk had finally took him to a few weeks back, Lance ran along the path to find his favorite flowers. They had a dark blue stem and a pearly-white flower that glowed when it was struck with moonlight. It was breathtaking and weirdly comforting as he found the patch of flowers he was looking for. The flowers were taller than most of the other plants in the garden. They were more of a bush, but each “plant” only grew three white flowers. Lance knew it was the perfect place to go to hide away from the world.

He crawled beneath the plants, curling up in the dirt beneath the glow of the flowers. He finally let his tear fall, one hand clutching his shirt by his heart and the other covering his mouth as he sobbed. Shiro had choked him, had thought that _he_ was part of his nightmare. Lance had caused him pain and forced him to regress back into his personal horror.

Lance had no idea why Blue had called to him to go to Shiro. Clearly, he was useless in that situation, only making it worse and getting himself hurt in the process. The water god shook with the force of his sobbing, barely remembering to breathe as his thoughts raced through his mind.

Why had Shiro called out to him in his dream? Why did Blue seem so confident that Lance could help Shiro? What happened to make Shiro believe that Lance was part of the dream?

One thing was certain: Lance had failed Blue. He had failed to wake up and calm Shiro, instead making the situation worse. It was Keith that calmed him, Keith that knew what to do to help Shiro.

_How could I have believed that I was good enough to help Shiro? If I can’t even help him with a nightmare, how could I ever hope to help everyone make Voltron? I-I’m just not good at these things. I’m not…._

The thought that floated into his mind cut him deeply, seeping to settle heavily in his stomach. His heart burned with agony and despair.

_I’m not…enough._

 

*Coiffure-hairdo, hair style, etc.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN!!!! cliffhanger!!!! mwahaha!!!! I hope to post more often but writing is hard, guys. No promises, except that I will not quit on this story!! leave me comments! it fuels my motivation (and ego lol).


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst and drama!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALIIIIIIIIIVE!!!! Sorry about the long break but holidays and work and stuff. BUT! I have a clear idea of where this story is going and I'm PUMPED!!!!! Enjoy the drama!

Lance avoided Shiro as often as possible over the next week. His throat had ended up bruising so badly that Allura gave Lance more time to recover before resuming training. By the third day, the bruising had gone down and began to turn a light, sickly green-yellow color.

Lance didn’t speak to anyone about what had happened between him and Shiro, even choosing to ignore and avoid Keith as much as possible. He wasn’t exactly hiding it, as the evidence was clearly written all over his neck in a colorful spectrum, but he did not feel like talking to anyone about it. If he was being honest, he was just not sure what to make of all of it. He stayed away from Shiro so he wouldn’t force more trauma on the poor guy and of course he was a little bit, _wary_ , around him now. But seeing Keith easily handle Shiro’s nightmare made Lance realize that the fire god was much closer to Shiro than Lance could ever hope to be.

No one talked to Lance about that night, but he could tell that everyone in the castle knew. Their expressions and awkwardness around him gave them away. Lance was suddenly aware that he was the only one who didn’t know what had truly happened to Shiro during his time with the Galra and that stung. He felt like an outsider; an intruder that forced his way into their lives. He wanted so badly to ask someone, _anyone,_ the history behind it all but he was afraid. He was afraid of knowing the truth about Shiro’s past; he was afraid of being told he didn’t deserve to know. His mind constantly went back and forth between the two, aching to be included but also fearing outright rejection.

He threw himself into his training in an attempt to distract himself from these intrusive thoughts. He had stopped his training with Shiro, though. He no longer knew how to approach the man, eventually concluding that he should just not try to approach him at all for the time being. Instead, he trained by himself and with Blue, going out to the lake in secret during the evenings.

Blue urged him to talk with Shiro, as she could only teach him so much about his powers. It turns out that _being_ quintessence doesn’t necessarily make you able to teach someone how to manipulate your very being into whatever the user needs. She could only show Lance what her being was like; how she responded to his consciousness. It was not enough, however, for him to master his own abilities. He needed guidance from another of his own and Blue was adamant that Shiro was the best person for the job.

Lance ignored her, of course, when she expressed these concerns. He was not ready to face Shiro just yet. He hadn’t been able to convince himself to even approach Hunk, the man he had instantly befriended, about the subject. Usually he told Hunk everything in excruciating detail, but he could not even force himself to help Hunk out in the kitchen. It was like part of himself was missing and he didn’t know how to get it back.

After his next training session with Blue ended up with half of his arm frozen due to a botched summoning attempt, Lance plopped down under a tree in the gardens with a sandwich in his hands. Allura had fixed his arm, so he saw no reason to go to dinner with everyone when he could sit under a tree and ignore his problems. He ate silently, not able to enjoy the taste of his food in his current state of depression. He kept eating it though, knowing his body needed more food to help him get strong. When he had finished his food, a figure shadowed over him.

He blinked, looking up into stormy grey eyes. “Hey,” Shiro said, lips curved into a shy smile. “We…need to talk, I think. You busy?” Lance shook his head slowly, at a loss for words since the man he was actively avoiding had sought him out. He watched as Shiro sat down next to him.

“First, I want to formally apologize for hurting you the way I did. I wasn’t aware of it until Keith told me after I calmed down. When I have those nightmares…it is very hard for me to snap out of it…there is a lot you do not know about me and I am not sure if I am ready to talk about it again. I will let you know when I am ready to talk about it.

“Second, I want to apologize that it took me so long to seek you out and properly talk it out. I was…nervous about it. I thought you were scared of me because I hurt you with my fake arm…I didn’t want to push you into seeing me again after that-“

“Shiro, you don’t have to apologize for that. I…I was avoiding you because I failed. I thought you would hate me because I was useless and-“

“Lance you aren’t useless! Why on earth do you think you’ve “failed”?” Shiro’s eyes were full of genuine concern.

“I…I couldn’t wake you up…you were hurting and I wasn’t able to do anything to help! I made things _worse,_ Shiro! Keith was calming you down and then I tried to help and it made you go back into your nightmare! I-it’s my fault…”

Lance tensed when he felt arms wrap carefully around him, but he leaned into the embrace anyway. He was probably starved for affection since avoiding his comrades as much as possible over the last week.

“It’s not your fault, Lance. You aren’t to blame. You didn’t cause my nightmares and no one told you how to help me through them. None of this is your fault. If you must place blame, place it on the Galra and Zarkon. They are the reason these dreams exist. And you haven’t failed at anything. You are so strong and sweet and caring. You should think better of yourself, Lance. You are amazing.”

Lance blushed as he looked at Shiro, pure sincerity clearly written in his expression. Shiro smiled warmly at him and he managed a weak smile in return.

“I really am sorry that I hurt you, Lance. This arm… sometimes I can’t control how much pressure I use with it…I miss having my real arm…”

Lance frowned at that. “Shiro, that arm _is_ real. It might not be flesh and blood, but it’s real. It’s a part of you and like you said, it isn’t the fault of your arm that I got hurt. It’s Zarkon’s fault for hurting you enough to give you nightmares.” He reached out and touched Shiro’s prosthetic, gently running his fingertips over the sleek metal. “It’s amazing, you know. Is it heavy?”

Shiro watched Lance, smiling at his words. He had never thought to regard the prosthetic as anything more than a replacement for something that was taken from him. To have Lance see it as something that is just _part of him,_ not separate, was endearing. “It really isn’t heavy. Pidge made it for me. She used her powers to infuse the arm with my quintessence’s powers so that it functions normally and doesn’t give me any problems. I’m so used to the strain on my energy that it doesn’t even phase me anymore. Pidge really pulled out all the stops!”

Lance stared at Shiro, eyes sparkling in wonder. “That’s so cool! Pidge is really amazing! I-I mean… _you’re_ amazing…” Lance blushed and looked down, returning the compliment Shiro had given him. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, giving each time to recollect themselves. Shiro turned to Lance after a while, opening his mouth as if to speak.

A loud siren began to ring throughout the castle, its message was clear: the Galra were back. Shiro looked to Lance for a moment before his leadership kicked in.

“We need to get ready to fight. Lance, Hunk told me he made you an armored suit; go put that on, we will need all the help we can get. Hurry now!” With that, Shiro took off towards the rooms to fetch his own war suit. Lance stood there for a moment before everything registered and he rushed to change as well.

The suit Hunk had made was very lightweight, yet felt sturdy. Lance knew he would be protected with his armor. Once he finished dressing, he bolted to the greeting room where everyone had begun to conglomerate. He wasn’t sure he was ready for this battle, but he supposed that no one really ever was fully prepared for their first real battle. He hoped he had enough training to help and not get himself or anyone else into trouble. Or dead.

Once everyone had arrived, Shiro gave the rundown of their plan quickly, as time was dissipating and the Galra were closing in fast. “Allura, I want you here inside the castle observatory. Let us know what you see from back there. Coran, I want you to man the security systems. If the Galra get too close, immediately trigger the castle defense systems. I want the castle on full lock down in that situation so that the Galra cannot get inside, no arguments.” The two had nodded seriously, instantly ready to play their roles in this war. “Alright, good. Keith, I want you next to me. We will take out anyone that gets too close. Lance, I want you to be behind Keith and I. Your water bursts are great for long range attacking. Hunk, I need you next to Lance. Shake up any enemies that you can. Pidge, I need you to go between the front line and long range. Is everyone understood?”

The group nodded, not an argument between them. Lance had his orders and he needed to make sure he kept them. This could very well be an intense battle and everyone needed to be at their best. The group moved to get into their positions. Lance walked behind Shiro as they exited the castle.

Lance could see a line of dark figures against the orange of the setting sun. His heart started beating quickly, fear setting in. This was real; he could get hurt or die. His body shook as he stood a hundred yards behind Shiro and Keith. The figures were getting closer and Lance could see that there were a few hundred Galra running towards them. It would be a matter of minutes before the real battle would begin. Lance moved into a fighting stance, judging the distance between himself and the enemy so that he could use his ranged attacks as soon as the Galra were close enough.

He had been practicing the different forms he could manipulate his water into, finding that he could both freeze and boil water instantly. Those would definitely come in handy with his fighting. It was time to test his training. He took a deep breath in as he connected with Blue, shooting three frozen daggers into the soldiers that had come within range. He shifted gears effortlessly, firing blazing hot water into a few more enemies. He aimed for the face, hoping to blind the Galra at the very least.

He continued to fire shots of water and ice, soon becoming overwhelmed at the sheer number of enemies present. Shiro and Keith were in range of the armed Galra so they charged forwards as a unit, moving in sync with each other to take down as many as they could. Keith mostly used a blade he had summoned with his fire that ripped through the Galra and sizzled as it made contact. Shiro battles similarly, with a blade he had made of purple lightning. It was a chaotic force, streams of lightning pulsing out each time the blade made contact. These streams left the blade and struck out at surrounding enemies, paralyzing or injuring those that were too close.

It was obvious that Keith and Shiro practiced both combat skills and quintessence fighting with each other. Lance felt a momentary pang of jealousy hit him as he wished to have that closeness with Shiro. He quickly fought off that thought, however, not wanting to be distracted in the heat of battle.

It wasn’t long before Lance had to switch tactics and produce his own ice blade to use. He wielded the blade in his right hand, choosing to still use shots of ice or water with his left. He had practiced being able to use boiling and frozen powers at the same time. He needed every advantage he could get and if that meant scalding a Galra while he defended against a sword attack, he sure as hell would was going to use that advantage.

The battle became a blur of defend-stab-scald for Lance. He lost himself in the intensity of it, jumping over kicks aimed at him or sliding under Galra rushing him with a weapon before turning and shooting or stabbing them in the back before they could react. Sometimes both. His energy was waning with each passing minute, however, and he knew that he would not be able to keep up this pace for much longer. He retreated a bit in order to get a better eye on the action.

He could hear Allura telling Shiro and Keith what to look out for as they literally tore through the crowd of soldiers. Pidge had equipped each person’s armor with a receiver that connected them with Allura so they could hear her as they battled. So far, Lance was not needed in a specific area, so he went back to ranged attacks, protecting the others from a distance in order to regain his stamina.

He picked countless enemies off of Keith and Shiro, so he turned to make sure Pidge and Hunk were faring well. Hunk was creating mini-earthquakes under the Galra that were still further away. Once, he had opened a crack in the earth and ten or so Galra fell within the crack before it was closed back up. That had immensely impressed Lance, for he had never seen his friend fight and was interested in how he used his powers.

Pidge had a grappling hook that allowed her to whiz around the battlefield gracefully. She had many explosives that she had made for the battle and used them to take the enemies by surprise in large explosions. She had made all of her weapons to be as tiny as possible while still being able to deal the most damage possible. In the darkness of the approaching night, her explosives were damn near invisible to the eye. Lance finally understood why Hunk had referred to her as a devious little gremlin from time to time. He vowed to never piss that woman off, ever.

Lance focused back on Shiro and Keith, seeing them thinning out the herd of Galran soldiers. He continued to aid them from afar, sometimes being forced to use his ice sword at the few Galra that got close enough to his position. When he got a small break in the onslaught, he peered over towards the horizon where the Galra had come from and saw more movement. Had the Galra called reinforcements? Lance continued to watch as the new line of Galra started glowing purple.

 _Quintessence?!_ Lance’s mind raced to catch up to his eyes. If the Galra had quintessence, then that was very bad for Lance and company. How would they have even acquired quintessence? From what he understood, there were only six special quintessence that bonded with humans and shared their powers. He had never heard of being able to use a quintessence’s power any other way.

Lance’s pulse raced with fear and adrenaline as he watched the new Galra form orbs of sheer quintessence. Apparently, Allura had seen what Lance had and informed the team to retreat a bit since they didn’t know the severity of the attack the Galra were forming. Everyone pulled back towards the castle. Once in range, Coran flipped on a barrier to surround them as they braced for the attack.

They didn’t wait long before the Galra shot the quintessence towards them. Lance felt the entire earth shake around him with the force of the blow against the barrier. It wasn’t going to hold against these attacks. They needed to finish the battle, _soon._

Shiro barked out a new strategy as the attack finished and everyone sprang into action the moment Shiro gave the word. Hunk now sent rocks hurling towards the soldiers; Pidge flung a mass of explosives in the center of the guard; Keith drew out huge fire spheres intending to blast back as many people as he could; Shiro began a huge storm over the Galra, intending to electrocute anyone that got wet from the rain; Lance dove into his connection with Blue to pull out a massive wave.

Their attacks were extremely effective in whittling down the numbers of their opponents. They prepared to repeat the combined attack when Lance saw movement from his right side. One of the Galra that had used quintessence was attempting a sneak attack, using the darkness as a cover to slip under. Lance followed the line of sight of the soldier and saw what was about to happen.

“SHIRO!”

Without thinking, Lance summoned a whip of water and shot it out at his comrade, having it encircle Shiro’s waist. Lance yanked the whip backwards, effectively flinging the larger man back to avoid the attack. He turned as Shiro fell unceremoniously on his rear in front of Lance. The water god grinned at the other man, before his features distorted into shock.

He looked down to see a sizzling purple dagger protruding from his left shoulder, pain not yet registering. Lance looked at the dagger in confusion. Where had that come from? He hadn’t realized that another Galran soldier had been preparing an attack in case the first one failed. This one had been successful in hitting its target.

“LANCE!” Shiro’s voice was so far away but Lance swore that Shiro was only a few feet in front of him. He looked at the other god as black spots appeared in his vision and he swayed on his feet. Shiro darted to him and caught him as his legs gave out, holding Lance close to his chest.

Worry lined his beautiful face along with a few other strong emotions that Lance was too tired to figure out. Maybe if he got some rest, he would know what they were. Water dripped onto his face, making him want to laugh. _I didn’t make you splash on my face. Silly water!_

When he focused on Shiro’s face, he saw him crying. Lance’s vision was fading quickly, and the last thing he saw was Shiro’s eyes glowing a fierce white as he heard a clap of thunder. After that, he fell into unconsciousness.

 

__________________________________________

 

Shiro POV

 

Shiro was a bit shocked when he was in the middle of clobbering a Galran soldier when he was yanked backwards into falling on his ass. As he had looked up, he saw Lance’s shining face, bright with relief for a moment before shock set in. Shiro had not seen the Galras using quintessence to try to kill him but Lance had. The beautiful man Shiro had begun to know protected him, but at what cost?

The moment Lance’s face warped into shock and pain, Shiro was on edge. It was slow, time had seemingly stopped to show the horror unfold before the storm god. He saw the sick purple spear impale Lance’s shoulder moments before said man dropped to the ground from the impact. Shiro could remember every detail in perfect clarity: the splitting of Lance’s war armor. The cracking sound made upon the quintessence’ collision with the water god. The expression on Lance’s face and the glazing of his eyes as his consciousness wavered.

Shiro shot up to gather the man into his arms, pleading with the boy to stay awake until he could be delivered to Allura. It was a plea that the boy could not hear and it was clear by his expression that he could not comply. Adrenaline rushed into Shiro as he went from panic to fear, then to unadulterated _rage_. He would not let those bastards get away with hurting his Lance. Anger pooled within him as his eyes started glowing a bright white. He held Lance close as the sky immediately darkened with black clouds.

Keith yelped, startled by the clap of thunder. He quickly assessed the situation and realized what Shiro was doing. He shouted for Pidge and Hunk to get back to the castle immediately. He ran towards Pidge, the closest to the castle at that moment and hauled her over his shoulder the moment he was within reach of her. Hunk easily caught up, fear of the situation and the heat of the battle fueling his muscles forwards.

Keith latched onto Hunk’s arm and as soon as they were almost at the castle, he propelled the man forwards, barreling him through the door. Keith leaped over the threshold, dropping Pidge inside as he slammed the door shut, ordering Coran to trigger the castle shield immediately.

It was not a moment too soon, for as soon the barrier went up, the others saw a massive amount of lightning devastate their enemies in just one second. By the time the light faded and they could see the field again, not a single Galra was standing, not even the quintessence users.

Allura’s voice snapped everyone out of their terror-stricken state. “SHIRO! Get Lance to me immediately! I need to heal him at once!”

The barrier around the castle faded and Keith opened the door, preparing to run to help Shiro. Keith needn’t have worried, however, because upon opening the door he saw Shiro moving towards the castle, unconscious Lance in his arms, sprinting with a speed he had never seen the man use. He was shocked but moved himself and the other two out of the way so that Shiro could run Lance to Allura.

Shiro made it to Allura and she forced him out of the room while she healed their friend. She needed a distraction-free environment to heal the wound that was inflicted upon Lance. The Galra had done quite some damage, as the quintessence they used had destroyed the nerves in his shoulder. Allura had never seen anything like it before; the wound looked strange and resisted her healing magic. Luckily, the spear had missed all of Lance’s vital points, but the princess was having a very tough time reversing the injury’s pull on Lance’s body.

Shiro and Keith waited outside the room that Lance and Allura were occupying. Shiro was restless and had taken to pacing the hallway back and forth. Hunk had gone to the kitchens, most likely to distract himself with cooking and baking. Pidge had immediately fill Coran in about the Galran soldiers using artificial quintessence during the battle and the two went to research as much as they could to find answers. Keith had decided to keep Shiro company, knowing the worry and fear within the storm god would only worsen if someone didn’t help calm him.

“Shiro, what happened out there? I’ve never seen you like that…” Shiro eyed the younger man, knowing he was referring to the rage-induced lighting show.

“I-I don’t know. One second, Lance had pulled me back and the next he was being stabbed through the shoulder. I just…lost it. I’ve never been so angry…or afraid…”

Keith looked at his friend in worry. The amount of fearsome power that Shiro had demonstrated was a far cry from just “losing it”. This was something more than that, something either dangerous or useful, or both. “Shiro, you would never have been able to pull something like that off before. What changed?”

“I don’t…I don’t really know…I was just concerned for Lance and I let all of my power go. I just remember focusing it towards the Galra and then letting it do what it needed to. I don’t think I had control over it at all.”

“But why now? Was it just because you’re in love with Lance?” Shiro made a choked noise at Keith’s words. “Oh, please, Shiro. You’re in love with the man, it’s written over your lovesick face. But it doesn’t answer my question.”

Shiro thought for a moment. “Lance and I have been training our quintessence together. Could that have made our powers stronger, perhaps?”

“Could be. We will need to look into it a bit more, though.” Keith walked up to Shiro and placed a hand over his shoulder. “For now, you need to rest a bit. Lance will be fine, Allura is an amazing healer. He will be fine. Go rest a bit and I will switch places with you in an hour so you can pace some more.” Shiro relented with a small smile, exhaustion starting to seep into his bones.

Shiro went towards his quarters, intent on showering at least, but stopped when he passed by the training room. He still had some restless energy from worrying over Lance, so he thought maybe a bit of cardio wouldn’t be such a bad idea before a shower. Shiro spent a good two hours in the training room before getting that shower. He had rested on his bed afterwards for only a minute before exhaustion finally set in and sleep pulled him under.

Keith found him like that not long after, and decided to let the god sleep for as long as he could. With Lance being injured, Keith knew sleep was not on Shiro’s priority list.

After many grueling hours, Allura was successful in fixing all of the nerve damage and the worst parts of the traumatism. Lance would still need a ton of bedrest to finish healing on his own. Shiro had been a nervous wreck while waiting for Allura to heal Lance. Keith had to force the man to sleep and recover from the battle by convincing him that Lance would be terrified by his sleep-deprived face when he woke up. Shiro had given up and slept for about four hours after that.

It was three days before Lance woke up and in that time the castle occupants were busy with trying to pass the time and not sleeping. Even Pidge and Hunk let their anxiety run wild. Pidge had gone on a building spree and made about forty useless mechanical monstrosities. Even Keith was feeling the rift in his friends created by the lack of Lance. How was it possible for someone to become so important to everyone so quickly? It was not an easy few days for the castle. The moment that they were alerted Lance was waking up, everyone raced to the infirmary wing of the castle. Everyone was halted by Allura, of course, and told to wait outside the room. No one was happy about that but Allura insisted that Lance not be bombarded by their presence immediately after regaining consciousness.

 

__________________________________________

 

 

Lance was in the heat of the battle against the Galra. He used his water to shoot down soldier after soldier, protecting his friends. They had been defending the castle for a while now with the Galran numbers showing no sign of waning. He had to keep this up and defend the castle.

He stumbled a few times but righted himself just in time to take down a soldier right as they tried to hurt his friends. _Not on my watch. Those bastards will not touch my friends!_ More adrenaline pumped through his veins and he gained a second wind (for the fourth or fifth time). He used his ice blade to slice down his opponents as they closed in on him. He would make sure they got nowhere close to his new family.

Hearing a scream from behind him, he whipped his head around to see Shiro with multiple swords through his body, eyes wide with shock. _No, NO!_ How had he missed the few Galra that were creeping close to his left? How had he not seen them in time to stop them?

Blood dripped out of Shiro’s mouth and then the Galra started ripping the swords out one by one. Blood sprayed the surrounding area when each was removed and Shiro’s body jolted every time. The last one was removed and Lance rushed to his side, cradling the larger man close. _No no no, please no…_ Lance was beside himself with fear and grief as he watched Shiro fade into unconsciousness. He needed to help him but how?

They were suddenly not on the battlefield anymore, but rather inside the castle. Lance was too emotional to notice and he continued to hold Shiro close, now crying into the man’s chest as he slept on an unfamiliar bed. He continued to sob as he felt a familiar pull yank him away from the scene.

He knew he should have realized at that point that he was dreaming, what with watching himself crying on Shiro as if one of them wasn’t himself. As he drifted away from the scene and towards consciousness, his panic did not fade.

 

__________________________________________

 

 

Lance’s eyes sprung open, taking in his surroundings of rows of white beds surrounded by curtains, each pulled aside but could slide to give someone privacy. A medical room where the injured can recover from illness or ailments. Lance looked around the room but saw that he was the only occupant. _Where is Shiro? What happened? He was hurt…he needs help!_

He was about to yell out to someone, anyone, that could be nearby, when the door opened and Hunk popped his head inside. Seeing that Lance was awake, the large man smiled and hastened inside. He had brought a tray of soup and bread, probably thinking it would be easier on Lance’s stomach. Lance was more concerned with what happened to Shiro, however.

“Hunk! Where is Shiro? Is he ok? He was hurt really badly! Why isn’t he here in this medical room?” He bombarded the poor man with questions, not allowing the other to answer before asking another. Hunk was surprised but kept calm under the verbal barrage. The larger man smiled gently as he placed the tray in front of Lance.

“Lance, calm down. Shiro is fine; he wasn’t injured. _You_ were hurt badly, not Shiro. Man, you should have seen him when you were hurt. You do _not_ want to piss that man off, let me tell you!”

_He’s ok? But I saw him get hurt…I was there?_

Hunk watched as Lance’s face turned from startled to confused. Realizing that the poor invalid would not understand without proof, Hunk left the room momentarily. Lance stared at the door that Hunk disappeared behind, confusion weighing down upon him. He got hurt, not Shiro. It made sense that he was lying in a medical bed if he was injured, but his brain still could not compute that Shiro was ok. He had seen it, or he thought he had. He supposed that he could have been dreaming after passing out during the battle, but it had felt so _real._

Suddenly the door slammed open, drawing Lance’s gaze to the tall man that had entered. Shiro stood before Lance, sweaty and out of breath. Had he run from where he was to see Lance? Shiro wasted no time in walking to his bedside, metal hand cupping Lance’s cheek gently. “Y-you’re ok…?” Shiro’s voice was hoarse and shaky. Lance noticed that the man’s eyes were bloodshot, red rimmed his eyes as if he had been crying. Lance let his eyes wander around Shiro’s face, taking in the dark circles under his eyes and the dryness of his skin. _Has Shiro not been sleeping?_ He looked to the man’s hair to confirm that the man had likely not even showered in a few days. Just how long had Lance been asleep?

Realizing he had not answered the man, Lance smiled sweetly at him. “Yeah, I’m good.” He watched the relief bloom over Shiro’s face and he looked so good Lance could kiss him. His heart sped up at the thought and he blushed lightly. “I…Shiro I thought it was you that had gotten hurt. The last thing I remember was that you were going to get hit by that Galra-quintessence and then…then I saw you get pierced in the stomach with it. I-I tried to save you but…” Lance’s voice wavered as tears welled up in his eyes at the memory.

Shiro immediately sat on the bed, carefully gathering the man into his arms. He minded Lance’s wounded shoulder as best as he could and took no time to start shushing him and rubbing his lower back. “It was probably just a bad dream, Lance.” His voice was gentle and calm, tinged with worry and relief. “You saved my life. I wasn’t paying enough attention and you grabbed me with water to pull me out of the way. You were hit in the shoulder and I…I thought you were going to die.” His voice cracked with emotion as he relayed the events. “Gods, Lance, I don’t know what I would have done if you had died…”

“I didn’t die though, I’m right here, Shiro.” Lance gently cupped Shiro’s cheek. Hunk watched the soft moment the two were having and excused himself silently. The other two never noticed his absence, too busy comforting one another.

“Lance…I…I care about you a lot.” Shiro smiles shyly, not meeting the other’s eyes. “I care more than I ever thought I could care about a person. You…your smile makes me feel warm and happy. I understand if you don’t feel the same way but-“ He was cut off by a drop of water hitting his flesh hand. He looked up to see tears streaming down Lance’s face despite the smile that he wore.

“I…I feel that way too, Shiro. Being near you makes me happy. My heart races and my face gets all hot and I like it because it isn’t uncomfortable at all. It feels nice.” Lance looked directly into Shiro’s eyes and blushed more, if possible. “I like you, Shiro. A lot…”

Shiro smiled warmly at Lance, leaning closer than Lance thought necessary. _It’s almost like he is going to-_

His thoughts were interrupted by soft, warm lips touching his own. _Oh!_ He stopped breathing as he realized that Shiro was kissing him. His heart pounded in his chest as he closed his eyes and focused on the feeling. Shiro’s prosthetic came up to cradle Lance’s neck and pull him even closer as his lips started to move. Lance gasped at the feeling and gripped Shiro’s shirt tightly. Shiro took that chance to open his mouth more and lick into Lance’s mouth, earning a moan from the smaller man.

The kiss was soft at first, each taking their time to explore the other’s mouth. Lance pulled himself closer with Shiro’s shirt, grip tight as if he would disappear if he let go. Shiro pulled Lance closer and snuck his human hand to the small of Lance’s back.

It was a feeling neither would soon forget, even as they parted slowly. Lance opened his eyes to look at Shiro with wide, hopeful eyes. Shiro smiled at him lovingly and Lance threw away any doubts he had about the other. He immediately closed in for another kiss, losing himself in the warmth and passion of the moment.

The kisses turned less innocent quickly, with Shiro drawing grunts and gasps out of Lance. Shiro’s hands were roaming up and down Lance’s back and sides, only stopping when he accidently brushed over the shoulder wound causing Lance to cry out in pain.

“Sorry! Are you ok?” Shiro looked at Lance in worry, though Lance assured him that he was fine. It was stitched properly, Coran had made sure of that, but it was pretty heavily bruised and the area a bit swollen. It would go down with time.

They spent the next hour cuddled closely, just enjoying each other’s presence.

“It’s ok Shiro,” Lance urges for what seems like the hundredth time. Shiro kept apologizing about pushing on his shoulder no matter how many times Lance said he was forgiven. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore. Enough apologizing already!”

“Ah, you are right. Sor- oh…” He looked at Lance and they both laughed. Shiro’s stomach took that opportunity to remind him that he had not eaten in a while.

As if on cue, Hunk entered the room with a cart of food. He must have known that Shiro would be hungry, as the cart had more food than Lance could ever eat by himself. He would have to thank Hunk for his foresight later. For now, the two dove into the mass of food before them, forgoing all talk in favor of filling the void in their stomachs.

Per Coran’s strict orders, Lance was on a diet of light foods such as soup and bland crackers for a few days. He didn’t mind though, as Hunk had made the soup and the taste was the best thing at the moment, according to Lance’s empty stomach.

Once they were full, Hunk took the empty dishes and left them in silence. After a few minutes, Lance cuddled closer to Shiro, wanting the comfort of the other. They hadn’t discussed the kiss yet but Lance was fine with that. He liked how they were right there, in that moment. He wanted to soak it all up as much as possible.

He had questions swirling throughout his mind. Did Shiro want to kiss him again? Was that a one-time deal? Did this make them boyfriends? Lovers? He didn’t know where to even start with the subject, so Lance decided on broaching the air with a different one.

“Is everyone else ok? Did anyone else get hurt by the Galra?”

Shiro looked at him for a moment before answering. “Minorly. Everyone had a few scrapes and bruises from the fight, but yours were by far the worst injuries.” He thought for a moment before adding “except for the ones we gave the Galran soldiers, of course.”

Lance smiled at that, glad that everyone was safe. He couldn’t imagine what he would do if his friends were hurt or even dead. It would break him and he wasn’t sure he would ever come back from the loss. He shook his head to clear his thoughts; he would make sure that would never happen. He could protect his friends.

Lance tried to stifle a yawn, but Shiro noticed immediately and suggested that he rest. “Shiro? Can you…stay? Here? With me?” Lance shifted anxiously, not looking at the man. “I really don’t want to be alone right now. I know I’m just going to be sleeping but…” He trailed off, not wanting to discuss how he was afraid if Shiro left, he wouldn’t come back. How could he describe the fear he had for the storm god to leave his sight? Would he seem to needy? Clingy? He didn’t want to scare Shiro away.

He needn’t have worried though, as Shiro had not planned on leaving the room any time soon. The man had his own fears of the water god slipping away from him. Neither of them wanted to share these thoughts, instead, lying in each other’s embrace to ward away the negativity.

Lance laid his head on Shiro’s shoulder and let his eyelids flutter closed, feeling Shiro rubbing circles into his back as he melted into his chest. It wasn’t long before Shiro could hear Lance’s breathing even out and he let himself indulge in staring at the sleeping man for a while before giving into sleep himself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~*makes kissy noises*~ lol hope you liiiiiiked it! Leave a comment. More comments = more motivation for me to write!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everybody for reading!  
> Please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed the chapter (or both).  
> This will be an ongoing fic, so subscribe if you want to see more!
> 
> My first few updates might take a while to post, as I start to get more in the swing of writing.
> 
> Please let me know what you think!


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